Parasite
by Alienfromx
Summary: Ruby finds herself struggling with a rare species of Grimm known as Parasite that attacks its victims mentally.
1. Chapter 1

Parasite

The night had ended and the Grimm were defeated for the night. My name is Ruby Rose and I'm a huntress. A huntress is someone who hunts Grimm, for those of you who don't know. Grimm are creatures that stalk the innocent and the average person lives in fear of these creatures attacking. That's where I come in. My job as a huntress is to weed out these creatures so that the innocent people can rest peacefully.

My experience with the Grimm has allowed me to avoid being killed so far, but that doesn't mean that they can't pose a threat to me. There was one in particular that still sticks out in my memory. This was a Grimm that couldn't be defeated by brute force. This was a Grimm that required mental strength just to survive. I'm talking about the Grimm known as Parasite.

It all started on a pretty typical night. I had caught wind of a Grimm attack and prepared to take them down. They'd gathered up in a small town that wasn't too far from where I was. All of its residents had evacuated some time ago, leaving me to spend some one-on-one time with the Grimm. Like most Grimm, these creatures went down pretty swiftly without much effort on my part. It was very satisfying to hear Crescent Rose slice right through them.

I was prepared to do the whole thing with my eyes closed when a strange Grimm appeared. It was completely black and thrashed violently, as if it was trying to get a bug off of it. I watched as it tore into buildings and killed other Grimm nearby with its outburst. I've seen a lot of unusual Grimm behavior over the years, but this was something new. It would howl while continuing to thrash, destroying more of the town in the process. I couldn't have it do that anymore and took care of the Grimm with one slice of Crescent Rose. The Grimm disappeared in a black mist, as most Grimm do once defeated. However, something else happened at the same time. Its head split open and something small jumped out of it, landing directly on my forehead. I could feel a sticky substance sliding against my head as the thing landed on me. I quickly raised my hand and pinched it with my fingers, throwing it off of me.

I decided to go back to my team after that. The townspeople were notified of the Grimm being killed and quietly emerged from their bunkers. I couldn't help but feel sorry for people living in constant fear the way they did.

Quickly, I rushed back home to my teammates. Not to brag, but my huntress team is easily one of the best in Vale and Remnant. We met long ago at a place called Beacon Academy where we didn't immediately hit it off. Through time and many adventures, we learned to grow and work together. Sometimes I still look back and smile at the times when getting a date was a major concern. Our lives are focused whatever looming threat appears next. We learned quickly that defeating one major threat only leads to a power vacuum, allowing others to take their place.

But I'd had enough dark thoughts for one day. I was at our base in all its rundown glory. I did say that we're one of the best huntsmen groups out there. That's true, but it's also true that we live kind of cheaply. The monetary system fell apart years ago and now people get by with bartering, among other methods.

I quietly opened the door, hoping that the creaking noises wouldn't wake my teammates up. Right on cue, my teammate by the name of Blake stood in front of me. She was a quiet girl with piercing yellow eyes. Blake was probably one of the first people I made some kind of connection with at Beacon. She was a lot like me in that she'd also leave our base for short periods of time. We were sort of like each other's spirit animals, as weird as that sounds.

"Out again?" Blake asked. She had a habit of getting directly to the point when she spoke.

I nodded my head. "I just took down some Grimm. The usual adrenalin rush."

Blake nodded. "Some old habits never die. Do they?"

I smiled at her. "Of course not," I chuckled. "There's no fun in over relying on the silver eyes. I'd rather have a challenge. You know?"

Blake gave me one of her half-smiles. "I do," she said before walking away.

I rolled my head back and let out a loud yawn. I'd been up for who knew how long. The only thing left to do at this point was sleep.

My room was a dinky little place that felt like a shoebox sometimes. All I could do was sit in the bed that took up most of the space. I'd sit there and sleep or write letters to myself. I took a breath of relief and jumped on the bed. As I jumped on, something strange happened. The room began to slant. The walls looked like they were starting to cave in and I could feel myself almost sinking into the bed. I felt a jolt of worry in my head and jumped off, only to find everything looking normal.

I didn't like that. The conclusion I came to was that it had happened out of exhaustion. My teamamtes had been warning me about my lack of sleep and it looks like they were right about that. I plopped my head onto my pillow and closed my eyes for a deep sleep.

I awakened to the sound of something weird. My head raised from the bed and found something standing across from me. It was a shadowy looking creature with enormously wide eyes. The worst thing about these eyes was how violently they'd shake. There were no other facial features on this thing that I could make out, only those eyes. But that wasn't all. This thing started to move. Every movement it made created a noise that sounded like bones snapping. Each step it came closer to me. Being the huntress I am, my first instinct was to get up and attack. But I couldn't. My arms, legs, and even my neck remained frozen. I couldn't even scream. I could only watch in horror as this thing came closer.

Suddenly, perhaps by a stroke of luck, my eyelids closed. I don't know what happened afterwards. I just remember waking up and seeing my room looking the way it always had, minus the creepy looking creature. I spent that morning in my bed. My mind still hadn't gotten completely over what I'd seen that night.


	2. Chapter 2

"Ruby? Where are you?" A voice called from outside my room.

I smiled to myself because I knew that the owner of that voice would eventually stop by to check on me.

The door opened before I could respond and in stepped my older sister, Yang. She was always making sure I was safe and checking up on me when she thought something was wrong. I'd told her many times that she didn't have to do it, but she insisted nonetheless. It's not like it made a difference anyway. Yang also had a habit of acting purely on how she felt without stopping to think. This was pretty clear when she barged into my room without knocking or waiting for me to respond to her call.

"There you are!" Yang said with a half-smile as she looked at me. She walked to the side of my bed and sat beside me.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, her metallic arm resting on my shoulder. There was something about the arm that made me uneasy. It was so lifeless and cold, yet it behaved and interacted with me as if it were organic. I didn't dare tell Yang that though for fear of hurting her feelings.

"Yes," I responded hesitantly. My eyes looked out the window as I tried to think of some way to respond. I always needed to word my issues properly with Yang, or else she'd overreact in the worst way.

"I think I'm getting sick," I said after an uncomfortably long silence.

"Really?" asked Yang. She turned so that she could get her organic arm to touch my forehead. It felt warm and soft as it pressed against my head. I smiled a little at the familiar feeling of Yang's touch.

Yang frowned at me. "You feel fine to me," she said. "I think it has something to do without you hunting Grimm in the middle of the night."

My eyebrows rose. "W-What are you talking about?" I asked, trying my best not to sound flustered.

Yang snorted at me. "Come on, Ruby," she said with a smirk. "Everybody on the team knows that you do it."

"Oh," I said with a pout. I really thought that nobody else knew besides Blake.

"But I think you need to stop lying in bed and move around or something," said Yang. She grabbed my hand and pulled me out of bed with all her strength. I yelped a little as I flew out of my bed and landed on the floor.

"Could you…warn me next time you do something like that?" I asked shakily while lifting myself off the floor.

Yang loudly laughed and slapped my back. "A little shock in the morning is always enough to wake someone up," she chuckled.

"I'd call that more than a _little_ shock," I said dryly.

Yang laughed and continued talking, but something was off. Her voice started to trail off into a distant echo. Every other vowel sounded like it had to travel all across our base to reach my ears. Even stranger were the other words mixed in. I could hear words like "useless" and "weak" thrown in as well. It sounded like an angrier Yang saying these things, but they couldn't be coming from the same Yang talking to me. Could they?  
I must have had a very strange expression on my face during all of this, because Yang's eyebrows furrowed in concern at the same time I started hearing the echoes.

"Ruby?" she asked. Her voice was now back to normal and so was everything else. No more strange words could be heard.

"W-What?" I asked faintly.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "You look scared."

"I don't know," I sighed, feeling strangely light-headed. "I've been having these weird hallucinations ever since I came back from my Grimm hunt last night."

Yang crossed her arms and looked straight into my eyes. Unlike Blake, Yang had purple eyes that were almost inviting compared to Blake's yellow eyes. Just looking into them was enough to put me at ease. However, Yang's firm expression was a pretty big contrast to the warmth her eyes gave me.

I already knew what she had concluded and I didn't like it.

"I'm probably just overtired," I said quickly, waving my hand dismissively.

Yang's expression didn't change. I could tell she wasn't having any of that.

"I'm not going to stop," I said defiantly. "I'll just make sure I have more sleep next time."

"Not while you're having hallucinations like that," said Yang. "I only see you looking that scared when something's very upsetting. You're not leaving this base until you feel better. Okay?"

I didn't say anything and lowered my head. There really wasn't a point in defying Yang when she had her mind set on something. Much like me, she had a habit of sticking strongly to something she believed in.

"Good," Yang said cheerily. "You just stay in here and rest. I'll bring you some food."

She ran out of my room to get the food while I stood alone. The comfortable security I felt had disappeared. I didn't like this feeling of isolation and confinement. Things were starting to get strange again. The slanted visuals I experienced last night had returned, only now they were even worse. The room would slant from side to side at a fast rate, making everything look like they'd been thrown in a whirlpool. I felt myself sit myself down on the floor as I watched my surroundings gradually shift into something else. My small and simplistic room had been turned into an ocean of darkness. The rippling effects were still there and they were accompanied by the sounds of heavy breathing from every angle.

My door twisted into something that resembled a face. The face had no defining features aside from the eyeless sockets. I could see it growing larger and larger until I could finally make out some more features. It had wrinkled skin and its mouth open in an expression of shock. For some reason, this very sight didn't startle me as much as it interested me. I could feel myself moving closer to the face. Every step I took felt like trudging through mud. My legs would force themselves to move ahead because of how heavy everything felt.

The face began to quiver as I moved closer. Its eyeless sockets shook more and more as I came closer. Against my own will, my hand started reaching out to touch the face.

I was about to touch the face when I happened to look up and see its eyes. They were the same eyes that the creature from last night had. They stared deep into my eyes. The sounds of breathing had now turned into sounds of hysterical shrieking. I heard myself scream and step back as the face looked at me with its terrified expression. The shaky white eyes rolled back into the sockets as the face started to shrink.

My surroundings started rapidly shifting back into place. The dark surroundings disappeared as light entered, revealing the familiar sight of my room. The face had shriveled away and my door was now in its place. The shaking and slanting had also stopped. It was now just me once again in my room. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. My hands had almost gone numb from fear. What I saw had felt so real, and yet it had been nothing more than an illusion. Whatever happened was part of something more and I had no idea what that was. The realization that I had no control over the situation is what scared me most.


	3. Chapter 3

Whatever happened next is now completely lost to me. All I remember is blacking out after the experience. I was awakened very suddenly by an icy cold touch against my cheek. It was like being slapped across the face by an invisible hand.

My eyes shot open as I looked into the eyes of Weiss Schnee. She was someone I had trouble connecting with when I first arrived at Beacon. It was hard to believe that I would end up considering her my best friend.

"Ruby!" Weiss said. "You're awake!" She had this goofy looking smile that I would have teased her over if I hadn't been so shaken.

I started to speak and immediately felt a throbbing pain in my jaw. It felt like there was a ball of muscle stuck in there and it made speaking difficult.

"W…Wei…Wei—"

"Don't worry," said Weiss, placing her hand against my mouth. "I understand you."

I blankly stared at her, afraid that trying to make an emotion would hurt just as much.

Weiss seemed to understand what I was thinking because she immediately started answering the question I had in my head.

"You seemed to have had a sort of stroke," said Weiss. "At least that's what you're showing symptoms of. Keep in mind that I'm not a doctor and my diagnosis could be very wrong."

I gave her a weak smile. Weiss had clearly been spending some time watching over me. I could see a glyph floating above her head and the glow of a summoned Grimm keeping watch from the doorframe. She only took those things out during fights or when she was working very hard on something.

Weiss bent over for a second and came back up with something in her hands. I turned my head to get a better look at it. The object appeared to be a small device, smaller than a scroll but bigger than a dust vial.

"This is a monitor that Yang and I worked on," said Weiss, placing it on my forehead. I twitched a little as I felt a light spark in my head. "It'll allow us to monitor you for some time until we can find an actual doctor. The nearest city is pretty far from us, but I'm sure we can find someone who can help us."

I raised my arm and poked the monitor. There was a strange feeling in my head that made my vision blur a little.

"The monitor has been wirelessly connected with Yang's arm so that she knows if you're having another…experience."

Hearing her mention the experience made me feel uncomfortable again. I had no idea of knowing whether or not that thing would come back again. The last two times were completely random and meant that I would have to keep my guard up at all times. My stubborn self hated the idea of having to stay alert at all times. The reason I came back to the base was so that I could get some relaxation in between Grimm hunts.

My thoughts came to an immediate halt as Weiss's summon found itself being hurled out of the doorframe.

"Does she really have to break something every time she enters a room?" Weiss groaned.

I didn't even need to ask who had just come in.

"RUBY!" Yang squealed, running over to me with her arms open.

She picked me up from the bed and squeezed me with a bone-crushing hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay," she said in a strained voice. It sounded like she'd been crying for some time. "I was so worried about you. You were on the floor with your eyes closed…for a moment I really…I really thought you were…"

"Well she's not," said Weiss sharply. "And I'd appreciate it if you made some effort to knock or at least say something before throwing my summons around like that!"

Yang snapped her head at Weiss as her arms continued to strangle me.

"Can't you Schnee that I'm having an emotional moment with my sister?" Yang snapped.

"That has got to be the worst pun you've made all day," said Weiss. "Than again, that shouldn't be surprising with your track record."

I could feel Yang's arms tighten around me. She really underestimated her own strength, or maybe she overestimated how much of her grip I could handle.

"You know I would have probably knocked out your teeth," said Yang. Her grip around me loosened before she spoke again. "But…I really am thankful that you were able to help Ruby."

"As you should be," said Weiss with a smile.

"So she told you all about the monitor, right?" asked Yang, turning her focus back on me.

I nodded.

Yang held up her arm and pointed at a blinking light on its wrist. "This little thingy will blink a lot and make lots of noise if you're in trouble again," said Yang. "This way I'll know if anything happens to you."

Knowing that Yang had my back did reassure me a little, even if that thing seemed to exist in its own dimension.

I opened my mouth, forgetting about the pain, and immediately regretted it.

Yang frowned at me. "Still can't talk, huh?" she said. "Poor thing."

"She should be better after a full day's rest," said Weiss, looking at an old lien card with a sulky expression. "It's a shame these are worthless now. I could have probably purchased some better equipment."

"Don't be so whiny," Yang said with a loud pat on Weiss's back. "You managed to help Ruby even without the best technology available. I'd consider that an accomplishment."

I smiled as Yang and Weiss continued to bicker back and forth. They had a strong understanding of each other that grew from years of friendly rivalry. It made me happy to know that my sister and best friend were so close with each other and supportive of me at the same time. Seeing them argue brought back old memories of Beacon. It was far from perfect and the information I know now sort of left a taint on its memory, but there was no denying that times were indeed simpler then. Maybe this is nostalgia talking, but I actually started to miss when Roman Torchwick was our biggest enemy. Years of ruthless Grimm and scummy Huntsmen only made me increasingly jaded over the years.

My fifteen year old self may have hated to see what she grew up to be. When did Ruby Rose become so pessimistic? I hung my head in shame, as if my old self were looking at me now.

"Uhhh, Rubes?" Yang asked. I saw her looking at me with her head cocked. "You okay?"

I nodded.

"She's just taking everything in," said Weiss. "I don't blame her for feeling worried. I would too if I felt light-headed over nothing the way she did."

"You mean like you did with Neptune?"

"WHAT!?"

I left the room before something big happened. It was nice to know my friends could somehow keep their old banter after everything we'd been through.

I walked around the base a little hoping to find Blake. She was always the person to talk to when you wanted a quiet but thoughtful conversation. Of course, Blake was nowhere to be found. She disappeared as frequently as I did and reappeared when you least expected it.

There was nobody around to talk to at the moment, so I went back into my room and sat on the bed. The monitor on my forehead would give off a pulse every couple of minutes that made me squirm a little. Sleeping with that thing on was going to be a challenge.

While on the bed, my mind wandered once again. I didn't really mind this time, especially since I had all the time to think now that I was practically bedridden for the time being. Unfortunately, giving anyone that much time to themselves will almost always lead to the darkest thoughts. I looked at my arms and almost gasped at what I saw. They were cuts and scratches from previous fights, but something else on them scared me even more than that. Wrinkles. I was getting old. How many years had it been? It was hard to keep track.

I continued to obsess over this detail, oblivious to the arms that extended from the head of my bed. They were long and gangly. You could see every protruding vein in them. The hands were even worse. Each finger looked like a bone with skin barely staying attached to it. The nails were long and grimy. You could smell something foul emitting from underneath them.

My body quivered as the sickly arms reached around me and pressed against my face. I felt leathery skin brushing against my cheeks, taking their time to feel every corner of my face. I hated this feeling. I was Ruby Rose, a silver-eyed warrior and hero of Remnant. How dare this creature make me feel so vulnerable and cowardly. I attempted to move and found nothing but pain in all my joints. Something wet landed on the top of my head as I continued to struggle moving. It was sticky and smelled like a rotting carcass. I winced at the stench and looked up.

The creature had returned. It gave me a wide grin that made me shiver. The corners of its lips were wet with drool. My eyes darted back to the hands touching my face.

I opened my mouth, and to my surprise, something came out: "Who are you?"

The face smiled at me once again.

"I'm your future," it said. The face leaned forward and revealed itself. It was my face, but much older and damaged. My face had become very wrinkly with age and my hair was nothing more then strands on the top of my head. The white in my right eye had become dark red, seemingly from the blood vessels that had burst. My skin was beginning to peel off, giving me glimpses of the bony interior behind my skin.

"Stop it," I said in my strongest voice. Even I could tell that I was scared, despite how I wanted to come across.

My older self smiled back at me again, her grin even wider.

"Is the reality of your future really that scary to you, fearless warrior?"

"Stop it!" I shouted, hearing my voice crack.

My older self disappeared at my words, leaving no traces of her appearance behind. Only I was left, along with a puddle of sweat. My monitor was beeping furiously.

"I'M COMING FOR YOU, RUBY!" I heard Yang shouting from down the hall.

Yang wouldn't be able to save me from this. I really wasn't sure if anything could.


	4. Chapter 4

The next few moments were nothing but absolute terror. It started with a strong feeling of dizziness. My head felt as if it just had all the oxygen sucked out of it. I could feel my stomach turning every time I turned my head. Next came the sudden feeling of being thrown from off my bed. I wasn't moving at all, but I still felt as though I'd been tossed out of my bed and into a dark void that led to nowhere. The familiar sight of my room began to pull away from my vision as I found myself falling further into the void. I could see Yang from a distance as she barged into my room with her arm ready to take someone down. Yang had an ability to take off her mechanical hand and replace it with a firearm of her choice. She only really did that when she felt the situation was dire or the enemy would be particularly tough. To see her pulling it out already said that she treated my safety as a dire situation, and I couldn't help but feel touched by that as I continued to get drawn away.

My arms and legs furiously shook and reached for anything to grab as I continued to fall. All I could find was darkness. I screamed for all my teammates and got nothing in return. Things were definitely taking a turn for the worst. Yang was already taking her problem seriously, so why shouldn't I?

I clenched my fists and felt my body shake as power began to build inside. It was time to put an end to this torture. I screamed loudly as I felt a sharp pain in my eyes, unleashing all the power I had stored inside of me. This was a power that I was blessed with. A power with the purpose of eradicating the creatures of darkness. The silver eyes were coming out. I began to feel some confidence return. The darkness would soon find itself enveloped by light. That's what I thought before the arms started to emerge. They were long and spindly black arms that made bone-cracking noises every time they sprouted. Several of them sprung from the darkness and grabbed at me, pulling my hair and clothes. Their pull was strong enough to make me yelp when I first felt one of them grab a fistful of my hair and yank it out. I refused to let them take me down and continued to let the silver eyes manifest. I had enough faith in them to eradicate these things. The arms were probably just as aware of their power because they became even more desperate as I went on, squeezing me so hard that I could hear crunching sounds coming from my limbs. One of the arms reached my neck and squeezed it. I gasped and focused my attention on surviving the hands. The power from my eyes started to dim as more of them squeezed my neck and every other part of my body. The arms seemed to be growing stronger, crunching my bones in their fists. I was in so much pain that I couldn't even scream or cry, only silently stare on as they continued to torture me. The arms relentlessly tore at me, ripping off every part of my body until there was nothing left but my consciousness.

I could no longer feel or use any o fmy senses. All I could do was observe and think. I cursed my aged body for failing to fight back against the arms. I remember a time when I felt like nothing could stop me, and now here I was being torn to pieces by emaciated arms. An old memory began to play before me as I felt my consciousness slip away. It was of me fighting beowolves when I was only fifteen. I had so much precision and speed with every attack I made. Crescent Rose looked nearly brand new back in those days. The memory slowly began to fade away, along with everything else. The last thing I remembered seeing was me smirking at a beowolf before slicing its head off. If only I had that same level of confidence in myself.

There was nothing but darkness and silence for a very long time. I honestly thought I had died or at least came close to it. Instead, I found myself waking up in my room once again. However, something felt different. Yang and Weiss were nowhere to be seen, and neither was Blake. My body was back together, but it felt weak for some reason. I started to walk and felt a strong tingle in my feet. My fingers and arms started to emit the same feeling. I continued walking on, determined to find out what had just happened. The tingling became more of a stinging pain that felt like needles growing inside my body and struggling to burst out. The pain forced me to get on my knees, and then on my stomach. I heard myself breathing deeply as I tried to relax so that the pain would stop.

I was in a weird state of mind where I knew I was conscious, and yet it felt as if I were watching myself from somewhere else. My vision was also somewhat impaired. The door to my room was the only thing I could really see, and I could see enough to notice that it had been opened a crack. With as much strength as I could, I made my eye move just enough to see through it. It looked like there was something looking back at me. It had a wide grin and large white eyes that shook. The thing from before had returned.

"What do you want with me?" I asked. My voice sounded like it belonged to someone on the verge of death, startling me as I spoke.

The thing's eyes grew wider. I heard slow and heavy sounding footsteps approaching the door, slowly opening it. I could feel my teeth grinding against each other as I tried my best to force my body to move. The door opened even wider and the wide-eyed thing took a single step in. I could feel my eyes beginning to water in its presence, and it wasn't from tears.

"...Ruby…" I heard a voice call out.

I desperately shouted so that the voice would hear me better.

"...wake up…"

"I want to," was all I had to say.

I saw something that looked like my own leg step in front of my face.

The wide-eyed creature grabbed my head with its long spider-like fingers that dug into my skull. It forcefully lifted my head up with a single pull. The needles in my body felt like spikes as my head rose from the floor.

I looked into the wide-eyed creature's face and saw the familiar sight of my "future self". There was already drool dripping from the corners of its mouth. I narrowed my eyes in an attempt to stare it down and was met with a sickly grin. The thing widened its grin enough to let its tongue to come out. The tongue was very long and dripping with saliva. It split into two at the end, giving it a fork-like appearance. The thing's teeth began to grow in length as its mouth started to widen. Any resemblance to me started to disappear as the mouth grew wider. The yellow and blunt looking teeth had grown into long fangs that looked like sharpened knives. My future self began to resemble me less as its mouth continued to grow. I watched as the teeth grew in number, surpassing what was normal for an ordinary person. This thing had grown into something else entirely and there was nothing I could do about it. I really thought I was going to die at that moment. There were so many things I had wanted to do with my life. I didn't want it to end like this. Not when there was still so much that I wanted to do.

"RUBY!" the voice from earlier called out.

I opened my mouth and screamed one last time. I screamed loud and hard until my voice turned raspy. The room and the creature began to vanish. I felt my head rush and grow heavy as darkness filled my surroundings once again.

There was darkness once again, but something was different about it this time.

"Ruby! Wake up!" The voice shouted. It sounded much closer to me.

I opened my eyes and saw Yang looking down at me with Weiss by her side.

"She's alive!" Yang cheered. I saw tears streaming down her face.

"Only after I got you to stop pressing so hard against her chest," said Weiss. "You really need to watch yourself with-"

"I'm so happy you're alive!" Yang said, squeezing me in a bear hug. I ignored the pain of her hug and focused on how happy I was to be alive. Unfortunately, all good things came to an end and this was no different. I looked down at my legs while Yang hugged me and noticed that my feet and calves were completely black.


	5. Chapter 5

"Ruby," said Weiss as Yang continued to smother me. "What happened to your calves?"

Yang's eyes drifted downwards and looked at my calves for a split second before letting me go.

"Ruby! What happened to you?" Yang loudly asked as I fell to the floor. My body felt like a lead weight as it landed against the floor.

"I...I don't know," I said wearily. It felt strange to feel my mouth moving when I spoke. Everything felt out of place and it made even the simplest tasks feel difficult.

"Whatever it is can't be good," said Weiss with both fists against her hips. I knew that pose all too well. It meant that she had an idea that needed to be heard. This was also known as "the grandstanding pose." Weiss would make this pose before she had an idea that you wouldn't escape from until you heard every single detail.

"Great observation," said Yang sarcastically. "We can always count on you to tell us what we already know."

"Stop talking for a second and let me continue!" Weiss snapped. "Something's happening to Ruby and it's clearly more than a common cold." Weiss began to pace around the room with one hand thoughtfully stroking her chin and the other behind her back.

"We're going to have to place her in the white room so that we can monitor her."

"You mean the room we put captive Grimm in?" Yang interrupted. "I liked it better when you were stating the obvious. At least you were making sense then."

Weiss turned her head in Yang's direction and gave her the scariest glare I'd seen in awhile.

"As I was saying," she said with her still eyes glaring at Yang, "We're going to put her there while we try to get some help. I'm going to see if I can get in touch with some Atlas doctors."

"Why does it have to be Atlas?"

"Because they're the best," Weiss said shortly. "There's no denying that Atlas has access to technology and research that the other kingdoms lack, whether you like it or not."

Yang rolled her eyes.

Weiss cleared her throat. "Anyway. It's going to take more than your typical doctor or researcher to figure out what this is. I'll see if I can reach the best of the best. They owe us after all."

"You'd better make sure they send the best" said Yang. "Because I'll never forgive you if anything happens to Ruby."

Yang said this with a tone of playfulness in her voice, but I knew my sister well enough to understand that she meant what she said. I'm pretty sure Weiss knew as well. Her tightened lips were hint enough of that.

"The Schnee family may not be what we once were, but I think we still have enough pull to make something happen," said Weiss.

Weiss's family was once the wealthiest family in all of Atlas. They possessed a lot of influence that they often used to try and beat back those they saw as a threat. A lot of that influence disappeared when the monetary system fell apart. Most of their time was now spent living in what was left of Schnee manor and acting like they still had the influence they once did.

I was never a fan of Weiss's relatives. Her older sister Winter was friendly enough, but I never did like the way she talked to Uncle Qrow. Her younger brother Whitley, on the other hand, was someone I couldn't stand. He was an arrogant boy with the face of a rat when I first met him. He ended up growing into a young man with the face of a weasel. Everything about him angered me. The way he talked down to Weiss. The way he attempted to horde all the Schnee wealth and power to himself exclusively. He only reluctantly helped us after I convinced him that not doing so would cause the Schnee family to disappear forever. You'd think that saving his family and life would have changed him, but that wasn't the case. Instead, Whitley would constantly try to undermine our fame and popularity with the people of Remnant. The worst part was that I think a part of Weiss still wanted to reconcile with him. It can be hard to distance yourself from family, even if they are disgusting people.

I looked back at my room as Yang carried me out of it. Images of that thing trying to eat me would occasionally flash in my head and startle me. There was something that felt disturbingly real about it. I could still smell the stench of its breath as entered my nostrils. Its sharp fingers still pierced my scalp. Was I going crazy? My thoughts were too disconnected to really make a point. Every idea I had would only last for a short time before being cut off by another. I just knew that I was glad to be out of the room. It wasn't safe as long as that thing continued to inhabit it.

"You really find yourself in the worst situations, huh?" Yang asked playfully as she carried me. I smiled up at her. Feeling my body wrapped in her arms gave me a sense of comfort that allowed me to feel like nothing could hurt us.

" I have a knack for it," I said weakly.

I heard Yang chuckle. "And that's why you'll always need me to watch your back," she said. "Somebody's got to pull you out of sticky situations and it's definitely not going to be Ice Queen and her baby arms."

We both laughed at that. Yang had this ongoing joke about Weiss having skinny arms that always set her off. I always had fun watching Weiss's face turn bright red whenever Yang brought it up.

"But I want you to know that I'll never let anything happen to you as long as I'm here," Yang said. Her voice had turned serious all of a sudden.

We were now both in front of the door to the white room. It was located in the back of the base and hadn't been used in a while. There was a time when we were contracted to capture Grimm and send them to various research facilities. It was a rough time. The Grimm would sometimes escape and destroy parts of the base in their rampage. Weiss carried out most of the maintenance in there while the rest of us kept the Grimm from going too wild. I think I actually enjoyed fighting the Grimm than I let on. There was something about having to fight them within the constraints of a house that gave an added challenge.

Yang opened the door and stepped in with me. I squinted as she turned on the lights. The white room was exactly as its name said. There were a few counters in the back and that was as decorative as it got. Everything else was pure bright white. The walls, floor, and ceiling, would have been indistinguishable if it hadn't been for the visible corners that connected them together.

"I'm sorry about this," said Yang. She put me on one of the counters and looked away. I could tell from the frown on her face that she felt bad about leaving me in there. I reached out my arm and placed it on her mechanical arm. Yang smiled at me and squeezed my hand in return. Even though the mechanical arm felt cold and lifeless, seeing Yang look at me through her caring eyes reminded me that the owner of that arm was still alive and capable of emoting.

I was reminded of a song she once sang to me after my mother died. The lyrics escaped my mind but there were parts of it that this moment reminded me of.

 _I will be there to take your fears away. With a touch of my hand I will turn your life to gold._

The part about gold always confused me when I was younger. I think I understood its meaning at that moment.

"I'll be okay," I said softly.

"I know," said Yang. "You always manage to beat the odds." She playfully tussled my hair with her organic arm and grinned.

She waved me goodbye before closing the door with the lights left on. I appreciated the thought, but those lights were really irritating to have shining in your face.

You might think that I was miserable in the white room. You'd be half right. The room was boring and depressing, but the furniture was surprisingly comfortable. This wasn't just any furniture. These were a special kind of furniture that felt hard on the surface, but would soften and mold its shape to suit your body. I would have probably enjoyed it a lot more if it hadn't been for the blinding lights shining on my face. There were also straps that would wrap around your wrists and ankles too. They were so tight that I could feel them dig into my skin a little as time continued to pass. Time itself felt like it went on forever in the white room. All I could really do was reminisce, as if I hadn't been doing enough of that.

I still couldn't believe that someone like me was now being locked in the white room for an unspecified amount of time. It kind of reminded me of how team rwby had been treated. We were once celebrated as heroes across Remnant. Stories spread about our adventures to the point that were almost deified. Statues were made of me and people would actually leave behind offerings to it. I remember smiling like an idiot as massive crowds filled the streets to congratulate us. Those smiling faces would later turn into resentment and mistrust. People said that we had too much power and couldn't be trusted with it. I mentioned that Whitley Schnee tried to turn people against us. He didn't succeed, but later attempts by others proved more successful. New teams were formed to try and counter us. A lot of younger huntsmen were eager to take us down in order to prove themselves. We were eventually forced to hide in this little base. People still liked us, but only as long as we showed our faces once in a while. It hurt to be betrayed by the very people you saved.

"It upsets you, doesn't it?" a voice echoed in my head.

My heart began to pound at the sound of this voice.

"How did you get in here?" I asked.

"You dreamed of helping people, only to have them chase you out," the voice had a much closer resemblance to my fifteen year old self and it disturbed me. The squeaky pitch and rapid speech patterns almost perfectly matched mine. I could tell that it wasn't entirely me because this voice also had a slight rasp.

"Go away!" I growled.

"And now your body's slowly breaking apart as new talent rises to overshadow you." It just wouldn't stop and I was strapped to the counter, leaving me with no other choice but to listen as it continued speaking.

"Shut up!" I shouted. "Stop using my voice! You aren't real!"

"Neither is the delusion that you're still the fighter you once were," the voice went on. "What if I told you that I can give you the strength you once had? What if I told you that I can bring back the Ruby Rose of old?"

I stopped struggling and paused. The thought of returning to my glory years had definitely crossed my mind. It was clear that this thing was trying to manipulate me, but I was in such a miserable state at the time that its offer sounded very appealing.

"All you need to do is let you trust me," said the voice. "I want to make you stronger. Ruby Rose will no longer be a washed up has-been. She'll be someone that people look up to once again! The light of Remnant will shine once more!"

There was a tingle in my blackened feet that felt like insects crawling inside of them. I strained my mouth as the tingle grew stronger. It eventually grew so strong that it felt like my feet were no longer in connection with my body. I would try to move them and feel nothing on the other end.

I felt my leg jerk wildly as my feet moved on their own. They were held down by the counter's straps. My feet managed to break through both of them like paper with one powerful thrust. I was in awe at what had just happened. My body hadn't had that kind of strength in years. To see it right before me was a shock.

"You see," the voice whispered in my ears. I saw a red cape in the corner of my eye. "I can bring you back to what you once were. No more hiding from the world outside. They'll be forced to acknowledge you again."

There was something about her words that made my head spin. My surroundings began to warp. I was slowly sinking into a dreamy place that reminded me of the good old days. The white ceiling began to resemble a sunny day at Beacon. I saw the stone walkways of the academy and voices of students walking down it. Seeing Beacon again made me smile to myself. I could even smell the familiar scent of the uniforms. My lips curved into a small, and that smile grew into laughter. It felt great to let myself loosen up.

And then it all disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

My arms, which had been tense and resistant, were now lying idly at my side. My eyes drifted upwards and observed the mysterious person speaking to me.

It was my younger self looking down at me. I smiled at her childlike face and smooth skin, unmarked by scars of battle.

"Don't worry," my younger self said. She put a hand on my head. It was icy cold and made me squirm a little. "You'll get to live like the heroes in the books once more."

I continued to smile at her, ignoring everything else. My younger self moved her head closer to me and opened her mouth.

"Such a delicate head you have," she said to me, her voice growing deeper. "I'm going to enjoy cracking it open like an egg."

Her mouth opened further and a snake-like tongue slid out of it. I suddenly understood what was happening and I couldn't even struggle. My body had betrayed me by staying in the dreamlike state. I forced my eyes to look down and saw that the blackness had just reached my knees.

"You!" I growled through a strained voice. "You lying scum!"

My younger self laughed as her teeth began to grow.

"It was your choice to take my temptations into consideration."

I squeezed my eyes shut and cursed myself for being so easily manipulated.

Flakes of skin began to rip off of the skull of my younger self. There appeared to be something inside her body struggling to break out.

I panted heavily as the tingle went past my knees. My heart rate was also slowing down at the same time. It looked like things were coming to an end.

My fifteen year old self raised her head and looked over her shoulder. I looked at what she was looking at as well. The door knob to the room was turning.

"An intruder," my fifteen year old self said. She glared at me and then smiled. A chunk of her skull was exposed from the skin peeling off of it. "We'll be seeing each other again." She then melted away into a greasy black substance that sunk into the floor and disappeared. I groaned loudly as I felt a sharp pain in my legs. The blackness had overtaken both of them.

The doorknob opened all the way and someone walked in. I was surprised by who it was.

"Blake?"

"Hi, Ruby," said Blake.

Looking at Blake was like looking at a time capsule. As a faunus, Blake aged at a much slower pace than the rest of us. She looked to be at least half her age and still had the athletic capabilities of someone half her age. I wouldn't be surprised if she was now capable of rivalling Yang at this point.

She walked so quietly that I could hardly hear a step she made.

Blake was and continued to be a mystery. She liked to keep a lot of things to herself and wouldn't tell us about them until she couldn't keep it to herself anymore. This lead to a lot of frustrating moments. Still, you couldn't ask for a more loyal friend than Blake. We spent a lot of time sharing our personal secrets with each other. She was the kind of person you could confide in without worrying that she'd tell other people. I've learned over the years that the most valuable friends are those that take the time to listen.

"Yang told me you'd be in here," said Blake.

I nodded.

"It hasn't been fun," I said with slight sarcasm.

The corner of Blake's mouth briefly curved into a small smile. "I can only imagine," she said. Blake walked right next to me and looked at the straps holding me down.

"Those straps," she said quietly. "I really don't like seeing you tied down by them."

Being a Faunus, and one active in the Faunus Rights Movement, Blake was particularly sensitive to anything that she perceived as oppressing or constricting. That included ropes, straps, cages, anything that held people back. It would always spark an unusual reaction from her. I could see her eyes dart back and forth just from looking at my straps. I knew she was fighting the urge to break them off of me.

"They're needed," I sighed, hoping to reassure her. "Because I really don't know what's going to happen at this point."

Blake frowned at me and then jumped onto the counter, placing herself between my feet and smiling at me. Blake had a strange smile that you couldn't really see at first. It mostly came from her eyes, as opposed to her mouth.

"It's a good thing I brought this," she said, pulling out a novel. She had so many novels and I never knew where she got them. There wasn't a single bookstore around here, and yet she somehow managed to always have one available. The title of her book was "Spirits, Souls, and Existence." It was certainly a change from her usual romantic titles.

I watched Blake as she read the book, her eyes glued to every word. She could get so invested in a book that the world around her didn't seem to exist. I didn't really mind it at that moment. Just having Blake there was enough to take the tension off of me.

After a while, Blake looked away from her book and said something.

"Weiss managed to get help" she said. I always found it funny how Blake would speak in short sentences, even when it was something important.

"Who is it?" I asked. There were many notable doctors in Atlas. I didn't know many of them, but I was still curious as to who she had managed to reach.

Blake looked away for a moment with a deep frown on her face. I didn't like that look and lifted my head a little off the counter.

"Who is it?" I asked in a much firmer voice.

Blake took a deep breath and said, "Mark III."

My eyes widened at that name. Mark III was someone I wasn't very fond of. She looked and sounded like an old friend of mine but had very little in common with her beyond that. The person she resembled was my best friend at a time when I didn't have that many to speak of. Her death still struck me as a memory that I'd never be able to forget, or allow myself to forget.

Mark III was her official title. I had a nickname for her that I used begrudgingly: Penny the third.


	6. Chapter 6

Penny. Now there was a name that brought back memories. Penny-also known as Personal Electronic Non-Natural Youth-was an android built by none other than Atlas themselves. She was the first android to have a semblance and more importantly, my first closest friend. I met Penny years ago at Beacon during a completely random moment. My team and I were all chasing after Sun upon Weiss's insistence, when Penny appeared out of nowhere. She came across as a somewhat annoying but well meaning person. Over time we became closer friends. I'd let her sneak into my dorm sometimes at night and hang out with me. You'd think that I would be put off by the idea of a machine being my friend, but Penny was more than that. As far as I was concerned, Penny was always human.

She was fully capable of understanding things in a way that most people I've met couldn't. I know this sounds very wishy washy, but I really do believe that a person's spirit is enough of a qualifier for them to be human.

Penny would later die the first time during a match against Pyrrha Nikos. I hadn't been there to witness it myself, only observe the aftermath. You have no idea how hard it is to see your friend torn apart and lifeless on the floor. I kept the emotions bottled inside, only letting them out when I felt that no one could see me.

To my surprise, Penny would come back one more and with a new body that made her immune to any form of magnetism. Despite the stronger body, Penny looked and sounded the same. She even remembered me. I smiled so much that my jaw muscles hurt for the rest of the day. I didn't care though. All that mattered was Penny being alive once more.

Just like before, Penny the second would die before our confrontation with Salem. It was much harder that time because she even looked into my eyes before making her final sacrifice. I found what remained of her body later and cried. For a long time.

It was believed that Penny would be gone for good after that, but Atlas just couldn't help themselves and brought her back a third time. I was happy to hear that she'd be back, only to face disappointment when I actually saw her. This new Penny was only Penny in name. She had Penny's memories and voice, but there were some major differences. Just thinking about Penny the third made me upset.

"Why did they have to send her?" I asked impatiently.

"She's the only one with an extensive database of unusual ailments," said Blake. "We all know how you feel about her, Ruby. Unfortunately, none of us can't think of anybody else who can help you out."

I scowled at Blake and turned my head. Penny the third had one thing in common with her predecessors. She was just as clueless and didn't understand why I disliked her. It made our few meetings very awkward.

"You need to get over your past," said Blake. "Running from it will only make it that much worse when it finally catches up with you."

I looked at Blake and nodded. Even though she hardly said anything, Blake would sometimes make a point that you couldn't help but nod to. She could be surprisingly compelling when she wanted to be.

Blake smiled a little at me. "I just don't want to see my friend go through what I went though," she said, putting her book down. "Remember that we're all here for you."

"I know that," I said with a smile.

Blake cocked her head curiously and pressed her finger against Weiss's alarm on my head. It caused the same uncomfortable pressure against my head that I had felt earlier.

"So how long are they making you wear that?" she asked. "It doesn't look very pleasant."

"As long as I need it," I said through a strained voice.

Blake immediately understood why I sounded the way I did and took her finger off of the alarm.

"That probably means you'll have it on until you're cured with whatever it is."

I nodded my head. "That's the plan, anyway. Is this how you managed to find me?"

"Yes," said Blake. "Yang was determined to get you herself, but Weiss insisted that I go to prevent Yang from breaking anything else. She'll probably be down here shortly to see how you are."

"I'm fine now," I said with a sigh. "I just don't know how much longer I can stand this."

Blake eyed my blackened legs and stared. I knew she was thinking something. Blake always stared long and hard when there were concerning thoughts forming inside.

"I'm going to stay here with you until Mark III arrives," she said quietly after a long pause. "What you have doesn't look like anything I"ve ever seen before. I may not be able to cure you, but I can at least provide you with a sense of comfort. Does that make any sense?"

"It does," I said.

We talked for a while about the past, her journey outside, and the future. I always appreciated the way Blake listened so intently and commented at all the right times. It's not that Weiss and Yang couldn't do it, it's just that Weiss would sometimes interrupt and Yang couldn't always take things seriously. Blake just knew that sometimes all a person needed was someone to listen.

Our conversation ended when Yang broke down the door with Weiss's hands around her ankles.

"I...can't...believe….you did it again," Weiss panted. "These doors aren't cheap you know."

"Neither is the price for hurting my sister," said Yang. Her angry expression turned into a beaming smile the moment she saw me.

"RUBY!" She chimed. Yang pounced on me with her full body weight. I'm pretty sure she crushed two of my ribs in the process.

"B-Be careful!" Blake said, putting her hand on Yang's shoulder. "You might kill her!"

Yang shoved her face in Blake's and grinned. "You're way too shy about being a little rough once in a while."

Blake's face turned redder than Crescent Rose.

"Ruby!" Weiss shouted, causing Yang to almost fall off the counter. "Your legs are black!"

Yang moved her head down and saw what Weiss saw.

"What is that?" asked Yang. I could feel her shaking from the sight of my legs.

"I'm not sure," I said. I didn't want to tell her about the hallucinations I'd been having. They'd either make me sound crazy or cause my friends to worry too much. I didn't want to put that sort of burden on them unless I felt that it was a complete threat. Right now it only seemed to make me sweat like crazy.

"I think it's the sickness overtaking my body," I said. It wasn't a complete lie. I'd just left out the part about seeing my past and future self.

"They apparently make you super strong too," said Yang. "You know those straps are built to resist a lot of pressure. Even large Grimm struggle with them How did you break out of them?"

"I'm still not sure," I lied again.

Blake gave me a funny look that told me she knew something was wrong.

"I hope you can tell me whatever it was," said Yang. "This old girl could use some of her former power."

It hurt me to see Yang referring to herself like that. Yang was always a teenage girl in my eyes, probably because that's the age she'd been when we were starting team RWBY and going on our first adventures. She definitely aged, however, and I didn't like to be reminded of that. Her muscular body had shrunk a little, leaving behind a much slimmer build. She dressed much more conservatively as well, preferring long pants and bulkier suits. She'd definitely come a long way from her old uniforms.

"How long did they say Mark III would take?" Yang asked, poking my legs out of curiosity.

"About one hour," said Weiss.

"Uhhh….you're not mad or anything that we asked for Mark III….are you Ruby?" Yang asked, now pinching my legs.

I grumbled something and turned my head.

"I don't think we should bring it up anymore," said Blake sympathetically. "You know how this makes Ruby feel."

"You're probably right," said Yang. She turned away from my head and tussled my hair again. "Keep fighting it, Ruby. I know you can do it."

"Thanks," I mumbled to myself.

"I offered to watch over her while you two waited for Mark III," said Blake.

Weiss nodded. "I think that's a splendid idea," she said with a slight bow. "I'll be awaiting our friend. Coming, Yang?"

"Yeah," said Yang. Before leaving, Yang gently patted Blake's shoulder. "I know you'll do a good job watching over her. I wouldn't trust anybody else with my baby sister."

Blake and Yang were always very good friends. I was surprised that they ended up getting along as well as they did. Blake's quiet demeanor was such a contrast to Yang's more boisterous personality. This somehow translated to a very close bond that many mistook for romance. I guess opposites really do attract.

A thought came back to me as Yang began walking away.

"Do I still have to wear this alarm on my head?" I asked.

Yang stopped walking and looked at my forehead.

"Oh yeah," she said. "Yes you do."

"But I have Blake here with me."

"That's true, but I think we'll keep it on until Mark III arrives. Mostly just because I want to know what you're doing and when you're in danger. You know, sisterly things. Now have fun!"

And with that, Yang left the room.

It was a lot different when just Blake and I were alone.

Blake had her gaze focused on the straps. They were really bothering her. You could even see her eye beginning to twitch just from the sight of it.

"Um, Blake," I said. "Are you okay?"

Blake shook her head while her eyes continued to focus on my straps. "Yes," she said. "I just...can't stand a contraption such as that."

"I don't either, but this is to help me out."

"Is that why you broke out of two of them already?"

I looked at my blackened feet and sighed. Blake definitely knew I was hiding something. It was almost scary how perceptive she could be.

"You promise not to tell?" I asked quietly.

Blake nodded, her expression unchanged.

"Lately I've been-"

Something about Blake had changed.. Her face was beginning to darken just like my legs. Both her eyes had begun to turn dark red, and her mouth curved into a terrifying grin.

"What is it?" Blake asked me, her voice now much harsher and raspy. "You don't look well."

My body was trembling at the sight of her. I couldn't tell if the thing had gotten to her too or was messing with me again. All I wanted to do was break free and hide somewhere.

"You concern me," said Blake. Her entire face was now black and both her eyes, including the whites, had gone dark red. "Please tell me what's wrong. You can trust me. I'm your friend."

There was a loud snapping sound as Blake's body contorted so much that her back now had an enormous hunch. She would grow taller with every snapping sound made. By the time the snapping had stopped, Blake's body nearly reached the ceiling and her face had turned completely black. The rest of her body had a sickly gray complexion.

"You can never escape," said Blake. She had a wide grin that matched the thing's. I screamed as she grabbed my darkened legs with one of her hands. At the same time, Yang's alarm began to go off. It made my vision blur as it went off, leaving me overwhelmed and scared. I only had my instinct to rely on. The whole incident is difficult to remember, but I do recall the lower half of my body rolling back as Blake attempted to bite both my legs. I also remember kicking her so hard in the face that she slammed into the wall, leaving behind a large crack.

I was breathing so hard that my lungs rattled. Everything was a fast moving blur and every sound was nothing more than white noise.

Voices began to fill the white noise shortly after I had kicked Blake.

"Ruby!" One of the voices said. "Why did you attack Blake?"

My vision had begun to clear a little. I squinted a little at where the voice had come from and saw Blake against the wall. She looked badly beaten and unconscious. Yang held Blake in her arms while staring at me. Yang's eyes told me that she was both hurt and shocked by what I had done. My vision was now starting to darken as I blacked out.

The last thing I heard before completely falling unconscious was a whisper.

The whisper said, "It's only a matter of time before I completely break you."


	7. Chapter 7

My eyes opened. They felt so heavy that I closed them almost immediately after opening them. There were sounds being made above me. Sounds of gears being turned. I forced my eyes open wider out of curiosity and saw something above me. It was a hand. I reached out for the hand with my vision still blurry, wondering what was going on. The hand grabbed mine and squeezed it. Only at that moment did I realize who it was.

"Salutations!" said the familiar voice of Mark III.

"What are you doing here?" I asked weakly. It took me twice the amount of time it normally would have for me to say that.

"Mark III arrived an hour ago," said Weiss. "You've been unconscious for the last four hours."

"I...I have?" I couldn't see Weiss and her voice had this strange echo effect to it.

"Indeed you have," said Mark III. "I've been performing medical scans and reading your body for the last half hour."

I winced a little as Mark III spoke. She sounded just like Penny and would occasionally repeat her phrases. Being stuck with her above me in that state was like torture. I wanted to leave but couldn't do anything about it.

"Blake," I said quietly, recalling what had happened between myself and her. "What happened to Blake?"

"She's already been healed by me," said Mark III. "You gave her quite the beating. Poor girl had trouble even walking when I found her."

I felt a sharp pain in my chest after hearing that. I could have sworn that Blake had been under the control of that thing, but she looked normal after I'd hit her. I found myself increasingly paranoid of what was real and what wasn't.

"I want to see Blake," I said. The least I could do was apologize to her. I felt terrible for hurting her that much.

"I'm afraid that can't be done," said Mark III. "I'm to monitor you for the next day in order to better evaluate you."

"What are you talking about?" I grunted. I lifted my head up and felt a sharp pain that forced me to put it back down.

"That," said Mark III. "I've emitted tranquilizers into your body and they'll last for the next day."

"Great," I grumbled to myself.

My vision began to gradually return as I continued lamenting the situation. The big blob in front of me had sharpened into the image of Mark III. As I said before, Mark III was Penny only in name and voice. After being destroyed a second time, Atlas decided to build their "ultimate" model that would supposedly rival Team RWBY. The end result was Mark III. She had Penny's eyes and freckles, but her hair had been cut into a pixie cut. Her eyes also had a much darker look to them, most likely for intimidation. Mark III was also taller than Penny, standing at a little over six feet. She had retractable wings that resembled a butterfly's when opened and a new outfit that looked more like a black military suit.

I think my distaste for Mark III came from her first encounter with us. Unlike the last two times, "Penny" didn't arrive as a friend. She arrived as an enemy. In order for Atlas to prove that they had regained their former glory, Mark III had been sent to take us down. We beat her, but only after the rest of my team had been nearly killed. It hurt to see a former friend try to strangle me as Mark III did. She acted like the whole thing never even happened, but I knew and I wouldn't ever forget it.

"Are you okay, Ruby?" asked Mark III. "You aren't nearly as chatty as my memory logs recall."

"When have I ever been chatty around you?" I asked snarkily.

"Well...never."

"Exactly. Don't expect me to be either."

"Ruby!" Weiss barked. I heard her walking towards me in her angry pace. Weiss would always walk slowly with loud footsteps when angered.

"You really need to let go of the past and be thankful that she came here to help you!" Weiss continued to shout. "We're all worried about you! Yang's too upset to even speak with you after what happened to Blake, and now you want to push away the one person who can help you?"

I didn't say anything. I must have had a scowl still on my face because Weiss became even more upset.

"What happened to you, Ruby?" Weiss asked. "You were once someone I grudgingly looked up to. You refused to let yourself become jaded and put equal trust in everybody. We all saw you as the hope we all lacked at time. But you aren't like that anymore. I look at you now and see a bitter woman who spends her free time brooding about the world. Where did your positivity go? Or better yet, where did Ruby go?"

Hearing Weiss say this hurt me. I wanted to extend my hand and put it on her arm, reassuring her that I was still there. I had a desire to tell her that everything would be okay and that having friends like her kept me from becoming completely withdrawn.

But I didn't.

I looked at Weiss and said, "Go away."

Weiss frowned at me and turned away.

"You aren't the friend I once had," said Weiss before leaving the room.

That hurt even more.

"It seems your behavior is still off from the tranquilizers," said Mark III.

"Don't worry about it," I said quietly. "Just go through with what you have to do."

"You can count on me," said Mark III. "I'm always combat ready."

I shuddered a little when she said that.

My eyes began to unfocus again. Nothing seemed to really matter for some reason. I felt an emptiness in my body that couldn't be filled by anything. I'd spent my life fighting evil and protecting others, and now here I was having tranquilizers inserted in my bloodstream. I didn't have a clue about what mattered to me. Was Weiss right about me? Had I really changed that much? Perhaps I had. After all, your friends can sometimes know you better than you do.

"You have changed," said the voice of my younger self. "You're nothing but a washed up loser. That's all you will be until you eventually rot away."

"Go away," I said angrily.

"I can't," said the voice, "Because I'm you."


	8. Chapter 8

She was continuing to stand over me. There was nowhere I could look without having to see my younger self smirking at me, appearing to be waiting for something to happen. The rest of my teammates had left while I was left with Mark III all by myself. To say that it was an awkward situation would be a great understatement. She would occasionally try to say something and I would answer with one word or sentence, barely ever going beyond that. As this went on, my younger self would continue to taunt me. I could feel my head starting to spin and nothing had even happened yet.

"Why do you keep doing this to yourself?" my younger self asked.

I glared at her and looked away.

"I know you can still hear me," she said, walking beside me as Mark III continued to work. "You wish you were just like me. Young, athletic, filled with hope and optimism for the future."

"You aren't me," I said harshly. "I would have never talked like that at fifteen. I don't even talk like that now. You're nothing but a trick on my mind."

"Are you sure about that?" my younger self asked. She gave me the same smirk I would often give Grimm before slicing their heads off. Seeing it done to me made goosebumps rise on my skin.

"I'm positive," I said in my bravest voice.

My younger self leaned back and giggled lightly. "You really need to stop lying to yourself," she said.

"JUST GO AWAY!" I shouted at her. My voice had become so loud that I didn't even realize it was coming from me at first.

"Ruby?" asked Mark III. "Is something wrong? I'm picking up a sharp increase in emotional and mental tensity."

"No," I said, panting heavily. "I just... I just imagined something."

"You're showing some very disturbing signs that are leading me to an uncomfortable hypothesis," said Mark III.

"Can you say that in a way I can understand?" I asked nastily.

For a brief moment, my eyes caught a look that only the original Penny would make. It was the look of guilt. She would always look away and hold her head down whenever something bothered her. Mark III, on the other hand, would always attempt to brush away any mistakes and pretend they never happened. Seeing that brief glimpse of Penny made me feel as if I'd been slapped across the face. I could only stare at her as my anger turned into disappointment in myself.

"I...didn't mean that," I said quietly. "Just tell me what your hypothesis is."

"Okay," said Mark III, her voice quivering a little. "Well, I'm starting to suspect that you've been infected by a rare species of Grimm. It's a species so rare that many believed them to be myths."

I felt my stomach turn as she spoke. I'd seen all kinds of Grimm in my lifetime, and this thing definitely showed some traits of Grimm. It also had a lot of differences that made me think it was something else entirely.

"What is this Grimm called?" I asked.

"It's officially classified as Ophion, but most people refer to it as Parasite."

"Parasite," I said out loud to myself. "What does it do?"

"It enters the body of its victims from just about anywhere. It goes straight to the brain from there. It then proceeds to trap the victim in a reality that it creates. Its reality becomes stronger as its victim becomes mentally weaker. Those with strong auras are prime targets because they extend their lifespan by feeding off the aura as it continuously regenerates itself."

"You mean I have a Grimm living inside me?" I asked frantically. "Is that why I've been seeing things?"

I looked over my shoulder and saw my younger self looking at me. Her grin had grown wide once more, exposing those teeth.

"You," I whispered under my breath. "It was you messing with me this entire time!"

I broke free from my straps in a fit of rage and leapt towards my younger self. I reached out my arms and attempted to grab her throat so that I could rip her head off. Instead, my body landed on the floor. I felt a crack in my back as my body jumped a couple feet before falling once more with a loud thud.

"Being aware of me isn't going to fix your problems," I heard my younger self whisper in my ear. "I still have control of your reality. How can you be so sure everything happening around you is even taking place? It could just be a situation created by myself."

I looked up at her through my puffy eyes. The impact of my crash had made my vision a little blurry.

"I hate you," I heard myself say. "I hate you!"

"Ruby, stop!" Mark III shouted.

I felt her metallic hand grab me by my collar.

"Let go of me!" I shouted, kicking and grabbing at the air as if my younger self were still there. "I'm going to rip her apart!"

Mark III's arm pressed down on my head, forcing my body against the floor as I struggled to get back up.

"Please stop," said Mark III. "Allowing yourself to get worked up like this is only going to weaken you."

I stopped struggling and stared at the white floor. My heart was beating so fast that I was afraid it would burst out of my chest. My friends had been isolated by my behavior and my body was too weak and vulnerable to fight my younger self head on, even if she was just an illusion. I had no other choice but to listen to Mark III.

"Fine," I said huffily. "Just tell me what I need to do."

"You can start by going back onto the counter," said Mark III. "From there I can keep you here to fight it on yourself. That's the only way you can really fight Parasite by yourself, considering that we even know that's what it is."

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yes," said Mark III with a nod. "The only other way is for me to remove it myself, and that would kill you in the process."

"Silver eyes?"

"Parasite is clever in that it's found a way to counter silver eyes. Activating them with it inside your head will result in a giant stone tumor that will poison your brain."

It looked like I really didn't have much of a choice. I had no idea how long it would take me and what it would do to my friends, but to make them suffer even more was an option I couldn't consider.

"Okay," I said to Mark III. "I'll take it on myself."

Mark III nodded. "I'm glad you made that decision," she said with a small smile.

I took one last deep breath before setting myself back on the counter again. Whatever happened from here on out was going to determine the future of myself and Team RWBY.


	9. Chapter 9

Mark III stood behind me with both of her hands raised. The artificial skin covering her palms disappeared as two green orbs emerged from them.

"These will help to speed up the tranquilization process," said Mark III. "The effects of Parasite are much stronger when its victim is asleep or emotionally stressed. It's going to have full control while you're unconscious. Understood?"

I nodded in response.

"I'll be monitoring your brain and physical movements. Any sign of struggle and I'll wake you up immediately. Understood?"

"Yes," I answered. I looked down at my blackened legs. They were a reminder of just how capable Parasite was. I'd fought Grimm that had come close to killing me with raw power, but it was another thing to have it come that close to controlling you.

"Be safe, Ruby," said Mark III.

"Thanks," I said with a small smile.

"I know you will," said Mark III with a little smile of her own. It was uncanny just how much her smile resembled Penny's.

I closed my eyes as her palms touched my temples. A loud drilling noise came from them that was followed by a powerful shock. The shock that came from them was so strong that I my back arched almost ninety degrees. My numbed arms then fell to my sides as my vision darkened.

My eyelids slowly opened again. I found myself looking straight into what appeared to be a pitch black sky. My head turned to the side and I saw what my body was resting on. It appeared to be grass, but where the grass had come from was a mystery to me. I lifted my body off of the grass and turned my head some more. It looked like I was standing on a piece of land in the middle of a dark void.

"What is this?" I said out loud. I gasped at the sound of my own voice and covered my mouth. The voice I heard was too high-pitched to be my own. My hands also felt very different as they pressed against my mouth. I looked down at both of them and saw the untouched skin of my younger self. The scars and scratches from years of fighting hadn't been made yet. For a brief moment, every negative emotion left me as I giggled to myself. I was finally youthful again and free from the growing unhappiness that age brought me.

"Isn't it nice?" said a voice. That voice also sounded like mine. "You don't have old age holding you back anymore. Everything you want is possible here. This is the place where all your dreams and desires can come true."

I looked in the direction of the voice and saw my younger self standing at the edge of the land, her head looking up at the dark sky.

"I'm not letting you mess with me anymore!" I shouted, searching my clothes for Crescent Rose. It was exactly where I used to put it. I would have smiled to myself even more if the situation hadn't been so serious. Crescent Rose had the same polish and sleek look it once had, but it was also missing some of the upgrades I added onto it over the years.

"I'm not trying to mess with you," said my younger self.

"Yes you are!" I shouted. "You terrorized me! You made me attack Blake! And you even said you'd break me! Don't give me any of that garbage!"

My younger self chuckled and cocked her head. "You really think someone like me would put you through all of that?" You could almost see the condescension oozing from the corners of her mouth.

"Shut up!" I shouted. Just hearing her talk made me angry. I leapt forward and spun my body into the slipstream. At the same time, Crescent Rose's blade spun around it to create a move that I called the Chakram. The blades of Crescent Rose would spin around the slipstream, slicing anything that got caught up in it.

I sped towards my younger self at full speed.

"You're so dramatic," my younger self said with a frown. She pulled out her own Crescent Rose and swung it with so much speed and power that it created a shockwave strong enough to counter my slipstream. My body was sent flying backwards as it got caught up in the slash's power.

"I only wanted to talk to you," said my younger self as she approached me. "You should be happy that I even gave you that body."

I was too busy coughing from the attack to even hear her clearly. My lungs felt like they'd been crushed. The power and attack she used was one I wouldn't be capable of until I reached my twenties. It was scary to see that much power in my fifteen year old body. I stood back up and felt my knees wobble. She'd put a lot more power behind that attack than I thought.

"I know your goal is to control my body," I said in between gasps. "You'll probably kill my sister and teammates after you do that. Is that what you wanted to 'talk' to me about?"

"Not quite," said my younger self. "I mostly just wanted to make an offer to you."

I squeezed my eyes shut and made a dash towards my younger self. She didn't move as I began to spin around her, creating a red vortex that would suck her up.

"Why do you keep trying?" my younger self asked. "You know that I can do everything you can do."

As if to prove her point, she grabbed me as I was spinning around her and slammed my head into the ground. This kind of attack was different from the others. I usually had aura to protect me from any real physical pain, but there didn't appear to be any aura here and I could feel every attack.

I screamed out loud as I felt the splitting pain in my head.

"You really like to use slipstreams and vortexes," my younger self said as she appeared right beside me. "But I personally like using my own strength even more."

She turned me on my back and proceeded to punch my face with a flurry of punches that she made stronger through the use of my semblance. I admittedly used my semblance to give my punches some more attack power, but much like her previous attack, my fifteen year old body wasn't capable of a move like that.

After punching me numerous times, she threw my head back on the grass. I struggled to get back up. My arms would wobble every time and cause me to fall back down.

As if to mock me, my younger self sat beside me with her legs crossed in a pretzel position and smiled.

"Maybe now you'll listen to me," she said cheerfully.

"What do you want with me?" I said through a strained voice. It hurt to even talk.

"I want to give you an offer," she said with a more serious tone. "Let me take control of your body and you get to live as your younger self in this world."

I moved my eyes up at her and scowled. Seeing her look down on me only made me angrier. I hated the fact that she shared my appearance and voice. It made me even angrier to see her use my own fighting style against me and win.

"I'm not letting a Grimm control me," I growled.

I saw the corner of her lips quiver when I said that.

"What do you think a Grimm is?" she asked.

"A disgusting creature that kills innocent people in its constant hunger for violence," I responded.

I could see her eyes twitching at my words.

"A Grimm is nothing more than a being created to destroy," said my younger self. "The ancient one was able to use the Grimm as infantry for her plans."

"Salem?" I asked.

"Yes," said my younger self with clear disgust. "But I'm different from other Grimm. I can have complete control over myself, depending on the host."

"But you still want to destroy what you've been created to destroy."

"Only in the same way that humans give in to their habits of violence and conflict, but I can only be in control of myself with the right host."

I moved back a little from her, at least as far back as I could move with my body in the shape it was in.

"So you are after control of my body," I said.

"I'm after freedom," said my younger self. "Attaining free will allows me to do as I please and live a life the way I want. Without it, my existence goes back to that of a tiny Grimm infesting whatever it can infect. I'm making you this offer because my other half isn't so nice."

"Other half?" I looked over my shoulder in case there was someone else watching us.

"Yes," said my younger self. "She'd rather destroy you in the harshest way she can. I'm here to make you an offer. Say no and I'll be forced to destroy you too."

"You mean you'll _try_ to destroy me," I said defiantly, "because I'm not letting you take control of me."

My younger self frowned and shook her head.

"I really hoped you would have better sense than this," she said. "It looks like I have to really break you down. But first, let's have some fun."

The black void began to take the form of a new environment. I could see a blue sky appearing through cracks in the darkness. The ground we stood on expanded immensely as paved roads began to emerge. People started to sprout from the ground as well. I looked around me and saw a familiar building emerge from the middle of the ground. Beacon Academy had returned.

It was all so surreal. Everything looked the way it had when I was there. The people, sounds, footsteps, architecture. I couldn't believe how lifelike everything was.

"I'm going to have a little fun before I take your body," said my younger self from behind me. "Do you know what today is?"

I shook my head. It looked like a regular day at Beacon to me.

"This is the day Beacon fell," said my younger self.

I felt like a weight had been tied to my heart and was now pulling it down.

"What?" I asked out loud, causing some people to stare at me.

"I'm going to make you relive this day, including the death of your friends. Will you be able to change this reality, or are you going to fail once again? Your sister is going to fight Mercury in a moment. What happens after will be different from how you remember."

"This isn't a game!" I shouted. "You should know what happened during that day! Illusion or not, I'm not going to play your stupid game. I'll fight you right now if I have to."

"Good luck with that," my younger self said with a smirk. I made an attempt to attack her, but missed as she disappeared in a gooey substance that melted into the floor.

Frustrated and angry, I slammed Crescent Rose into the ground and screamed. People were staring and pointing. I didn't care. The fall of Beacon was something I had to live with, and seeing it all reenacted for the sick pleasure of this Grimm made me even angrier. I couldn't stand to see the people I cared about suffer again. This time I was going to make a change for the better. And then I was going to stop Parasite from gaining control of my body.


	10. Chapter 10

So I knew what I had to do. There was only one problem: The Amity Colosseum was way above Beacon and I had no idea when the last Air Bus's had left. I sighed loudly as soon as I realized this and fell onto my knees. Several people awkwardly walked around me as I tried to think of some way to reach the colosseum.

One idea was to ask somebody if they were going and if they'd let me go on with them. Another idea was to try and shoot myself up there. I'd come up with a move to propel myself really high up that I called the rocket. I just couldn't tell if my younger body was able to handle it. My arms were still a little sore from attempting the chakram.

"She probably knew I wouldn't be able to get up there easily," I mumbled under my breath. "Why does everything have to be so difficult?"

"Ruby!" A cheery voice said from behind me.

"Not right-" I wasn't even able to finish speaking before being tackled.

I thought it was Parasite trying to catch me off guard and reached for Crescent Rose. That's when I saw a familiar pair of green eyes looking straight into mine.

My mouth opened at the sight of her freckled face. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"No," I heard myself whisper as the realization began to sink in.

I could now see a giant pink bow on top of a head full of red hair.

"Please don't mess with me," I said very faintly.

I was looking directly into the eyes of Mark I Penny. There was no mistaking it. Nobody else wore a bow that big and smiled that goofily in every situation.

"Is something wrong, Ruby?" Penny asked. It was so strange seeing her as I remembered. She was so much smaller than Mark III, appeared to be so much kinder, and even had the same clothes she always walked around in.

"You're alive!" I shouted, wrapping my arms around Penny and sobbing uncontrollably.

"Uh, Ruby?" asked Penny. "Why are you crying?"

I took a second to regain my composure before talking to Penny. It was so hard because I would take one look at her and immediately remind myself of everything I went through after her death. I know Mark III was basically Penny, but there was something the original that made me feel all kinds of emotions.

"I'm just really happy to see you," I said in between many sniffles.

"It certainly looks that way," said Penny.

I smiled a little at her stating the obvious. There was something charming about how clueless Penny could be in social situations.

"But I can't help but wonder why you're still down here," said Penny. "Don't you have to be at the colosseum with the rest of your team?"

"I could ask you the same question," I said.

Penny bashfully looked at the floor and turned her head away. That alone was enough to make me start tearing up again. There were so many quirks in Penny that I just didn't see with Mark III.

"Do you think you could give me a ride up there?" I asked, pointing at the colosseum.

"I don't know if I can do that," Penny said with a frown. "People might see me and figure out...you know…."

"I knew you'd say that," I said with a frown.

I still couldn't get over how different she was from Mark III. Her successor flaunted her robotic ability all the time, even destroying a building when we first met just to show off her strength. Penny, on the other hand, always tried to hide her identity for fear of how others would respond.

"What about that girl? What was her name?"

"You mean Ciel?" asked Penny. "Oh, she's probably looking for me right now."

"You ditched her, didn't you?"

"No. I just asked if I could take a walk." I couldn't tell if she was kidding or being dead serious when saying stuff like that.

"Well….do you think she'll let me tag along? My team is up there too."

"I think so," said Penny with a wide grin. "I would much rather have someone who enjoys talking to me."

As if on cue, Ciel showed up. She appeared uptight as usual.

"Excuse me," she said sternly. "Penny needs to be at the colosseum in approximately five minutes."

"I need to get up there and Penny offered to give me a ride," I said with one arm wrapped around Penny.

Ciel looked like she'd just been told to jump off a cliff.

"You don't have a way of getting up there yourself?" she asked.

"Not really," I said, "and I'm pretty sure me being with you doesn't effect your schedule in any way."

"Do not back talk me," said Ciel stiffly.

"Only if you promise to let me go with you," I said with half a smirk. "General Ironwood would be pretty upset if he heard that you were caused a contestant to miss their match. Aren't you supposed to make a good impression of Atlas while you're here?"

Ciel's crease in her forehead grew with every word I said. I could tell she wanted to slap me across the face. She fortunately didn't and grudgingly nodded at me.

"Very well," she said. "Just don't stall us."

"That was so cool!" said Penny loudly. "Can you teach me how to aggressively talk down to people too?"

I laughed hard at that.

"Please don't change, Penny," I giggled.

We all went to our air bus and headed for the colosseum. I could feel my heart racing as we came closer to it. Parasite _would_ _not_ be allowed to make me relive those terrible memories. I already had Penny with me. Things were going well so far. Hopefully things would continue that way.

 _Back in the white room, Mark III looked down at Ruby with a small smile growing on the corner of her lips._

" _You've finally met her," she said to herself. And then she frowned. Mark III could interpret what Ruby was experiencing and saw everything that took place between her and Parasite. Seeing Ruby smile with Penny made her feel something. It was nice to see Ruby smiling after being bitter for so long, but seeing the reason for it made Mark III a little angry._

" _Why does she have such strong feelings for you?" Mark III asked. "I've tried my best to make up for our first encounter. I even flew all the way from Atlas to help her out and she does nothing but talk to me like I'm a disease. Sometimes I wish I wasn't built with your memories of her. She clearly doesn't appreciate my existence."_

" _Please," said a voice faintly in her head, "give her a chance. She really does care about you."_

" _She cares about you!" Mark III snapped. "Just look at how happy she is just to be looking at you."_

"S _he has painful memories of my demise," said the voice. "Can you imagine what it's like to see someone you care about die twice? Seeing me allows some of those old wounds to heal temporarily."_

" _I guess you're right," said Mark III. "But why are you giving me this burden? You know she'll never be able to see you that way again. Wouldn't it be easier just to not remember she ever existed?"_

" _No," said the voice. "Because our friendship means too much to me."_

 _Mark III looked back down at the unconscious Ruby, watching her eyes twitch every other second as her subconscious remained trapped in Parasite's illusion._

" _Friendship…." Mark III said to herself. "If only I knew what that was like."_


	11. Chapter 11

Penny and I arrived at the colosseum just in time. I was taken back by just how large the inside was. The walls looked like they belonged in an ancient palace. There were so many people walking down these halls, each of them going to or from the arena. I turned my head in every direction in an attempt to take it all in.

"It's pretty big, huh?" said Penny.

She was looking at me with both hands behind her back and a smile on her face.

"Yeah," I said with a slight smile. "It's...nostalgic…"

Penny smiled even wider at me. "It reminds you of the past, doesn't it?" she said.

My smile disappeared when I heard that.

"What did you say?" I asked.

"Penny and I need to get going," said Ciel sharply. "I suggest you do the same."

She stood really close to me as she spoke, clearly trying to intimidate me.

"Can't I have just another minute with Penny?" I pleaded.

Ciel's eyes narrowed at me.

"No," she said firmly. "We'll be on our way right now. You can speak with her after the match has been decided."

Without another word spoken, Ciel turned around and motioned for Penny to follow her. Penny stood back for a second and looked at me with a frown before following Ciel.

"What was that about?" I asked myself. Penny may have just answered that in response to me calling the place nostalgic, but there was something more to what she said. I could just tell by how she sounded.

"Now for the round you've all been waiting for!" Came the familiar voice of Professor Port, "The one-on-one final!"

There was a loud roar from the arena where the matches took place. I ran straight towards it. Professor Oobleck and Port would discuss the rules briefly before the match began. This gave me plenty of time to find a seat and maybe even scout out Emerald.

I thought I was used the waves of nostalgia that kept hitting me, but I once again found myself overwhelmed by it. It wasn't the colosseum that got me as much as the familiar faces did. Sun Wukong, Pyrrha Nikos, and even Mercury Black were people I hadn't seen in a very long time. I could see my old teammates sitting together in anticipation. It was so odd seeing Weiss and Blake behave so distantly towards each other. They weren't exactly good buddies, but they bonded way more now than they currently were.

To the left of my teammates were Team SSSN's members. I almost laughed at the sight of Neptune. Weiss's little interest in him was something Yang never let her forget and it was pretty funny to see her face burn red every time it was mentioned.

It was the people on my team's right that really got me teary eyed. Jaune, Ren, and Nora. They all looked so young and healthy, especially Jaune. We'd fought alongside them for years and risked our lives for each other on many occasions. I hadn't seen any of them since Team RWBY went into hiding. I wanted to approach them and just talk. Not about anything in particular. I just wanted to relive some of my happier moments right then and there. Unfortunately, there wasn't any time for me to do that.

I looked back down at the arena and focused on Yang for a second. My eyes were glued to her other arm. She looked so much cockier back then as well and it was hard for her not to be. She'd only been fighting against petty street criminals at the time. Anyone can feel invincible when those are the only enemies you have to go against.

"Yang Xiao Long and Mercury Black!" Came the voice of Port.

The match would begin at any moment. I looked all over for Emerald and couldn't find her. I did see someone else that I hadn't before: Cinder Fall. I had an idea to at least confront her and cause enough of a scene to turn Emerald's attention away from Yang. Yang would probably win without any sort of interference and Mercury would play himself into losing. It sounded like a great idea.

Cinder was going to be a bit of a challenge. Even though I knew the silver eye would take her down, my younger self was still lurking around. Activating them at the time had been too much for my body to handle and made me fall unconscious. That would give her the perfect opportunity to wreak havoc and overtake my body. My only plan for the time was to distract Cinder and cause enough of a scene to turn Emerald's focus away from her.

I ran as fast as I could towards her as she walked away, knocking into several people along the way.

"You're not getting away with this!" I growled under my breath as I ran.

"Will all other combatants please leave the stage!" bellowed Port.

Now I knew time was closing in. I could see Cinder even more clearly. I was getting so close.

"Do you really think I'd let you win that easily?" A voice whispered from behind me.

There was a sharp pain in my left foot as something black rose from the floor and pierced it. I heard myself scream from the pain and then fell on my face.

"I said that what happened _afterwards_ was going to be different," said my younger self. "Geez. You can't even follow the rules when they're given to you."

"Go away!" I groaned while trying to get back up. My aura wouldn't heal the hole that had been dug right through my foot.

"Enjoy the show," my younger self said. She patted me on the head as she sat herself in an unoccupied seat.

"Don't worry about her," I heard her say to a spectator. "She stepped on a thumb tack and fell."

Sweat was dripping down my face as I forced myself back up, limping as fast as I could in the direction Cinder went.

"Fight!" said Port.

I managed to work myself into a decent speed. The only downside was that it made my foot throb in pain every time it hit the floor. Cinder was long gone by that point, but I didn't care. I needed to at least attempt something.

There was another black spike from the floor. This time it pierced my other foot. I bit my tongue to fight back the urge to scream. Hearing that would only embolden my younger self further. Mercury had just landed his finishing blow on Yang. She'd be coming back shortly with her semblance charged to take him down.

I was now jogging at a very light pace. There wasn't anything I could do that at that point, but I wasn't going to give up. I decided that there was only one thing left to do.

I pulled out Crescent Rose from where I stood in full scythe form. There were several gasps from the people who saw it.

Yang had just landed the finishing blow on Mercury and would seen fall prey to an illusion.

I quickly combined some burn dust with earth dust and shoved it into Crescent Rose.

"You idiot!" I heard my younger self shout, "do you really think you can change anything?"

I didn't wait for her to reach me and shot right between where Yang and Mercury stood. There was a small explosion and the entire arena began to be filled with a smoke cloud.

Yang jumped back as the smoke surrounded her and Mercury. The cloud was so thick that nobody would be able to see through it, including Emerald. I could hear Yang coughing and felt bad, but I knew it was better than what would have ended up happening.

"It seems someone has fired off a round of dust into the arena!" I heard Port shouting.

"It was her!" I heard several students shout.

I could hear my younger self laughing at me as people began to scream and run.

"Congratulations on causing an even greater panic than your sister originally did," she said. "I can't wait to see how you get out of this one!"

She disappeared once again in a black slime-like substance.

"Ruby Rose!" I heard some Atlesian Knights shout. They all had their guns pointed at me.

"Stand down!" said another one.

"Ruby?" I heard Yang shout. "Why did you do that?"

I looked at all the guards with my head high and dropped Crescent Rose on the floor.

"Go ahead and take me into custody," I said. "I'm not denying anything."

One of them nodded and motioned for the others to escort me back into my dorm room. I wouldn't be surprised if this sort of thing got me expelled from Beacon. Maybe my younger self was right and I had just made things worse. I was worried that would be the case.


	12. Chapter 12

There was something strange about the knights and I couldn't exactly figure out what it was. They looked and sounded as I remembered them, but something was off and it was really starting to bother me.

"You understand that what you've done has caused mass panic?" one of the knights asked me.

"Yes," I answered shortly.

"And you also understand that we can't have that happen around here."

"Yes," I said again. These knights were a lot more intelligent than I remember them being. I only remember Atlesian Knights being capable of answering orders and giving out orders to civilians.

"And you can understand why you're officially viewed as a threat to the Kingdom of Vale."

"A threat?" I asked. "Don't you think that's a little extreme to say?"

"Not at all," said one of the knights. "We feel that this is the proper label to be given to a dangerous individual like you."

"What are you getting at?" I asked. They were beginning to slow down their pace. We were now standing in an empty hallway where nobody could see us.

"We've decided that eliminating you is the right decision," said a knight. They turned around and pointed all of their weapons at me.

"Did General Ironwood order this?" I asked. I looked around at each of the knights.

"No," said one of the knights. And they all shot off their weapons without another word.

I jumped right out of their circle and began to run down the hallway towards a safe place.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I heard my younger self say inside my head.

"This is the surprise you were talking about, wasn't it?" I grunted as I continued to run.

My answer came as giant eyes began to emerge from the walls. Each of them stared at me and widened as I ran past them.

"What is this?" I asked out loud.

Large, black hands emerged from their pupils and reached for me. I'd already thrown Crescent Rose away and my fifteen year old body wasn't that strong. I decided that the best solution was to dodge the arms and try to find a way out.

I focused my semblance on both my arms and used them to punch back at one of the arms. My punches were so fast that they were almost like bullets. It was enough to create a hole in one of the arms and send it reeling back. More came and as several more eyes started to emerge from the floor.

"I told you changing the past was impossible," said my younger self as more hands grabbed at my legs. "This is my reality and I have total control of what goes on in here."

I growled as I ripped off several fingers from a hand that had grabbed my arm. My arms were starting to get fatigued from the constant use of my semblance and my aura was being used up to push back any fatigue I was having.

"I'm not going to lose here!" I shouted as a hand sprouted from behind me and ripped out a chunk of my hair.

A large mouth had emerged and several snake-like tongues slipped out of it. They wrapped around my ankles and covered them in a slime-like substance. My combat skills were better when I had more open space to take advantage of my semblance. Tight areas like this were my weak point and this Grimm knew it. I cursed myself for falling into its trap and allowing myself to be tricked so easily.

"Now you're mine," said my younger self as the mouth below me opened. My heart was racing. There appeared to be no other option. Did I risk getting a tumor in my head by using the silver eyes?

"Move away, quickly!" A voice shouted from behind.

I jumped to my left just in time as a beam shot by me and struck one of the arms.

"AGHHHGH!" My younger self screamed. "You? How are you acting on your own?"

"Because I'm always combat ready!" said Penny.

My mouth opened up into a wide smile when I heard that.

She followed her beam with several swords that cut off many of the black hands that had sprouted. She then ran towards me and rolled me into her arm.

"Hold tight, Ruby," said Penny. "It's about to get rough!"

Penny rammed the walls with both her fists, creating a hole large enough for us to escape through.

"Don't think I'm letting you go so easily!" My younger self snarled. The black spikes I had dealt with earlier were beginning to sprout from the floor. Several of them tore into Penny and ripped out pieces of her body. One of them even managed to rip off a portion of her face, exposing her metallic facial structure.

"I'm well aware of that," said Penny. "That's why I'm leaving now." As a final message, Penny threw one of her swords directly into a giant eye that had been staring at us. My younger self screamed so loudly that it shook the entire building. The entire colosseum vibrated violently as her scream echoed in my head.

"Where are we going?" I asked Penny.

"Somewhere she can't reach us," said Penny. She jumped right through the hole she created, using her thrusters to give us a speed boost.

The place we were lead to was unlike anywhere else. It was completely dark. There were no signs of people or structures anywhere. I could only see Penny and myself.

"We're safe here," said Penny. She put me down and fell to her knees. Penny had definitely seen better days. There were several holes in her body from the spikes and the right side of her metallic face kept sparking. Despite all of this, Penny still managed to give me a smile.

"Thank you," I said, shaking a little. "I don't know if I would have escaped that."

"Of course," said Penny. "That's what friends do."

"But I don't get it," I said. "How were you able to save me? How did you even know I was going to be trapped?"

"I can't say for sure," said Penny. "I heard a voice telling me to help you and I came. That's all I can say."

I nodded at her. So much was going on and I couldn't keep track of it all. I had a feeling that this would be a regular occurrence when dealing with this Grimm.

"Do you at least know where we are?" I asked.

Penny nodded. "I do know that this is your half of your mind."

"What?"

Penny pointed past me. "Listen over there very carefully."

I walked over to where she pointed. It was just another patch of darkness that didn't look all that different from the rest.

"What am I looking for, Penny?"

"Lean your ear closer," she said.

"Okay," I said doubtfully. I did as she said and heard nothing at first.

"...Are you...robbing me…."

"But why? What do you get out of this?

"Yang? Is that you?"

I could hear all these memories of things I'd said years ago. I'd honestly forgotten some of them. They just kept coming and coming, as if they were calling for me.

I looked back at Penny and said, "what is this?"

"Your memories. Everything you've cared about is retained in your head. This is the part of you that hasn't been touched by the Grimm."

"So why do you know all of this?"

Penny stroked the metallic side of her face and said, "maybe it's because you hold me close in your memory. There might be others who are in the same situation as me."

That's when it struck me.

"Yang," I said out loud. "Weiss and Blake. They might be safe too."

"Could be," said Penny. "But I'm a little...damaged. I'm afraid I might shut down if I take any more.

"Don't worry, Penny," I said with a smile. "I'm not going to let that happen. I have an idea.

 _What is this? Mark III frantically asked. "All I'm getting is static."_

" _It seems like she's all on her own," said a voice in Mark III's head. "You shouldn't worry. Ruby can always fix a problem when she's determined._

" _You think I don't know that?" Mark III grumbled. "She and I have probably known each other longer than you two have."_

 _There was a knock at the door that put an end to Mark III's conversation._

" _Come in," said Mark III._

 _The door opened and Yang stepped in. She smiled warmly at Mark III. Yang was probably the only member of team RWBY that Mark III felt a sort of connection with. Her arm had been a prototype for what would later become Mark III's body structure, and this made Mark III view Yang as a sort of relative._

" _Yang," said Mark III cheerfully. "I thought you were watching Blake."_

" _She's fine," said Yang, eyeing Ruby. "How's she doing?"_

" _I don't know," said Mark III, turning her head away from Yang. "Her readings are coming up as static. I have a theory that this is because she's reached a part of her mind that not even I can observe."_

 _Yang walked past Mark III and stood in front of Ruby, breathing slowly as she watched her sister's eyes twitch._

" _Please be okay," Yang said softly, placing a hand on Ruby's head. "I know you always make it out, but that still doesn't stop me from worrying about my baby sister."_

" _Yang," said Mark III. "Do you think Ruby will ever like me?"_

 _Yang smiled while continuing to look at Ruby. "Yes," she said with a smile. "Ruby sometimes has trouble accepting radical changes, especially when it has to do with people she cares about. I promise you that she'll eventually view you in the same way she viewed Penny."_

" _Do you swear?"_

 _Yang looked over at Mark III and smirked. "What are you, fifteen?" she asked. "But yeah, sure."_

 _Mark III held out her pinky and crossed it with Yang's robotic pinky._

" _Thank you, Yang," said Mark III, "for trusting me after all I've done."_

" _Hey. The past is the past," said Yang. "I swear you can be just as fixated on it as Blake."_

 _The two smiled at each other and then looked at Ruby, wondering how she'd make it out.  
_


	13. Chapter 13

I should have probably kept my expectations lower when I returned back to the part of my mind that was under Parasite's control. All my memories of the past had been replaced with nightmares of a different time period. One that I don't think I ever experienced. The formerly glorious colosseum was now a floating shell of scrapped metal and dust. The hallways had deep cracks going through them and my nostrils twitched as a cloud of dust entered them.

"What is this?" I asked out loud as I walked in further.

I turned my attention to Penny out of curiosity. Her eyes and mouth were wide open in shock, struggling to believe that her surroundings were real. Penny's eyes would shift from one direction to the next, as if she expected everything to look the same it had before.

The roars of all the students were now gone and all I could hear were our footsteps. I could hear Penny's pick up as she ran past me to see what had happened to the arena. She ran until she could get the full view of it and stopped.

"What's wrong?" I asked Penny, afraid that I already knew what she'd seen.

"It's...completely been demolished," said Penny.

I walked next to her and looked at what had once been the location for many glorious matches between contestants. The colosseum was such a large and intimidating structure that made you feel its importance. Seeing it now as a massive heap of rubble was pretty unsettling.

"Let's get out of here," I said while taking out Crescent Rose. "I have a feeling that what we're looking for isn't in here."

Penny nodded at me and looked at the rubble once more. She stared at it with the same look of shock she gave it earlier.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"That could have been me," said Penny.

"What?"

"Scrap. Lifeless scrap. Seeing all that makes me feel...I don't even know…"

I knew what she was referring to and put my hand on her shoulder. "Don't let it bother you," I said in my most comforting tone. "I'm not letting that happen to you. Okay?"

Penny looked back at me and gave a crooked smile. "I...I believe you," she said with a little quiver in her voice.

"Then let's go," I said with a nod. "That thing will only get stronger if we give it more time."

Penny and I walked down the abandoned colosseum, remembering all the familiar faces and sounds that had filled it earlier. The docks had large chunks torn off of them, leaving behind only enough space for maybe one Air Bus to land. Down below were the remains of Beacon Academy. It looked even worse than it had after the Fall of Beacon. Most of the academy looked to be in the same shape that the colosseum was. I squinted my eyes as I looked for any movement, whether it be from a person or animal. All I could see were black shadows that swiftly moved from place to place. They appeared to be the only lifeforms that still existed. Even the trees had lost their will to live.

"Do you like what you see?" said a voice that sounded like mine, only deeper. I didn't even want to turn around. The worst case scenario had become a reality and there was nothing I could do about it.

"Ruby?" I heard Penny ask nervously. "This Grimm-"

"I know," I said harshly. I hated giving off that sort of tone to Penny, but I wasn't in the best state of mind to have the obvious told to me.

"Know what?" the voice asked, taking a step closer to me. "That I've managed to accomplish something that nobody else could? This world. It's a place without conflict. All the fear, anxiety, and turmoil you've faced is no longer a reality."

She was getting even closer to me. I could hear her breathing lightly as she became more excited.

"The Ancient One failed to accomplish this when she fell to team RWBY. I, on the other hand, have managed to take control of its leader. This is a world in which the Grimm reign supreme."

I was getting sick of hearing my younger self talk and turned around. What I saw was exactly what I feared. She was still my younger self, but she also wasn't a child anymore. I was looking right at my twenty year old self.

"You hate me for stealing your youth," said my younger self. The left side of her face began to age rapidly, making a crackling sound as it did so. The smooth skin on the left side of her face had turned into a wrinkly patch of skin that hung loosely from the cheekbone.

"And you hate me for showing you what you'll end up becoming," said the voice of my older self.

"We're everything you covet and fear," said the two in unison. "And now you'll be swallowed by both your desires and worries."

"Ruby!" I heard Penny shout.

I had no idea what she was shouting for until I felt it. It was a sharp sting that spread throughout the upper right side of my stomach. I felt as if my blood stream had been replaced with ice as everything began to go numb. My eyes looked down and saw a sharp spike sticking out of my body.

"You're nothing but a vulnerable sack of bones and flesh," said Parasite as she looked down at me. "And now you're about to be freed from both."

My head was spinning as she continued to talk. All I could see were blurs that turned everything into a smear.

"Stop it!" I heard Penny shout.

"Why do you continue to get involved?" Parasite taunted. I heard the sound of something being stuck, and then what sounded like sparks being set off.

"R-R-R-Ruby…" said a staticy voice.

"I've fought many silver-eyed warriors who believed they were invincible against all Grimm," Parasite went on. "You may feel like you're unstoppable, but you're about to meet the same fate they did. It must be difficult to hear that you aren't as special as you think, Ruby Rose."


	14. Chapter 14

_There was an unusual change in the temperature that night. The normally warm climate had dropped to an icy one. Plants had begun to freeze over as a cold breeze blew through the forest. These sudden changes were all being caused by a single woman as she walked through the forest by herself. Every step she took would cause the grass to freeze over as a cold wind blew behind her._

 _The woman wore a white dress that touched the very surface she walked on. She had an alluring yet cautious way in which she carried herself. Head hung low and covered with a white veil, she walked until she reached a large apple tree._

" _Go away…" the woman whispered to herself. "Go away...how could she say that?"_

 _The woman lifted the veil off her head and frowned. Her long white hair was pulled back in a ponytail, exposing her aged and worried face._

" _Why would she say that to me?" Weiss said softly. "We've always helped each other out. That's why we're a team."_

 _Weiss lowered her head some more and eyed the path of flowers planted in front of the trees. There was a patch of red roses, a patch of white roses, a patch of Amaryllis Belladonna , and a patch of buttercup flowers. They were all next to each other and staying together, despite the climate changes that came throughout the years._

 _Weiss stared at the patch of flowers for a long time while saying nothing. A strong breeze picked up behind her before dying down just as fast._

" _She couldn't have meant that" said Weiss through a strained voice. "This team always meant a lot to her. Team RWBY is more than just a huntress team...we're a family."_

 _Weiss looked one more time at the patch of flowers. Something about them always eased her worries and fears. It was at this location that she could bring out emotions that were normally bottled up._

" _Please be okay, Ruby" said Weiss. She felt something wet gently fall on her hand while saying this._

I think I would have stayed unconscious if I hadn't felt a sharp sting on my cheek.

" _Ow!" I said_ hoarsely. There was something off. I could feel my entire throat tremble as I spoke and it wasn't comfortable.

"Shhh!" Someone said as they placed a finger on my lips.

"Can you be quiet for even a moment?" asked the person. My eyes opened very slowly and then took some time to focus. When my vision finally came through, Weiss Schnee was standing right above me.

"Wei-!" I shouted before she put both her hands over my mouth.

"SHUT UP!" She whispered loudly. "Do you know how difficult it was for me to carry you back here with all those Grimm out there?"

"G...Grimm…?"

"Yes," said Weiss impatiently. "This place is crawling with Grimm. I haven't been able to find anybody else. Not Ironwood, Ozpin, Beacon students, or even that goofy faunus from Haven. Nothing! And now I'm here in a ditch with you looking like a corpse! I'm aware that I'm usually the one who keeps things in place, but even this is too much for me to handle!"

Weiss was speaking so fast that I could only understand every other word she said. The only part that stood out to me was the mention of me looking like a corpse. I weakly moved my head to see what she meant and almost fainted from what I saw. My arms and hands were so thin that I could see the bones almost bulging from their skin. My veins were bulging as well. I didn't even want to know what my face looked like.

"Penny…." I said weakly.

"What?" asked Weiss.

"Penny!" I said in a croaky voice.

Weiss's frown turned into a deep grimace.

"The girl…" she said, turning her eyes away from me.

I tried to nod my head but it ended up looking more like a weird attempt to move my head up.

"Ruby," said Weiss with one deep breath, "I have something to tell you and you aren't going to like it."

"What?" I asked, fearing the worst.

"Your friend...she's….how do I say this? She's a robot."

The fear I felt completely disappeared at that moment.

"I know," I said.

"What?"

"I. Know."

Weiss blinked a couple times and stared at me, dumbfounded.

"Wha-I just-how-when did-?"

"Where...is...she?" I asked. Everything I said took too much effort to say and I had to take a deep breath almost every time.

"Weiss stopped muttering and looked down at me with a frown.

"There," she said, pointing her finger over to a corner. I could see her slumped against the wall, unmoving.

"I found her saying your name over and over," said Weiss. "She was missing most of her face and kept sputtering. I only brought her here because she grabbed my by the ankle and demanded to come with you. Well, having something like that happen to you would certainly make you think twice before assuming someone's dead at first sight."

"Is she...mov...moving?" I asked.

Weiss took a quick look back and then said, "uhhhh. I'm not sure. She stopped moving about an hour ago and I haven't heard anything since."

Her mentioning a passing of an entire hour surprised me more than it should have. Who knew what else that Grimm was up to while we were here. And what about the rest of our team? If Weiss was still artound, maybe Blake and Yang would be too. I needed to take action, but my body just wouldn't let me. My head would shake every time I tried to lift it.

"What are you trying to do?" asked Weiss.

"I...need to...to get….out there," I said, struggling to even move my arms.

"Don't," said Weiss firmly. "We don't have a chance out there. You may not have seen what Beacon looks like, but I did. The buildings crawling with Grimm, many of them stronger than anything we've faced. It looks like a nightmare. No. that's exactly what it is. It's better if we find some way to escape and seek refuge."

"No," I said firmly.

"Excuse me?" said Weiss. She crossed both her arms and glared at me. "Have you even looked at yourself? I'll tell you what I see. I see a girl on the verge of death, stubbornly trying to be a hero when the odds are against her. This might be a shock to you, but I value you as a person. You're the only real friend I have in this place. If you were to die on me, I'd...I don't even know."

I could hear the strain in Weiss's voice. She was trying so hard to appear calm and collected. It was true that I wasn't in the best position to do anything. I'm sure the Grimm would rip me apart as soon as they saw me, effectively handing over my consciousness to that Grimm. I thought of the smug face it would give me while using my own face as a disguise and tried even harder to move. It was no use.

There were sounds of giant creatures walking around, feeling entitled to the remains of Beacon. I tried once more to move and felt a sting running through my spine. Maybe Weiss was right. Maybe I really didn't have a chance this time.

"BZZT...RUBY...RUBY…." said a voice. It sounded more like static that would occasionally be interrupted by either sparks or a distant voice.

"Penny?" said Weiss, taking the word right out of my mouth.

"AURA….BZZZT….I HAVE….BZZZT….TAKE IT."

"What?" asked Weiss.

"...BZZT….OPEN IT….BZZT….AURA…..YOURS."

My eyes widened at what she was saying.

"Are you sure?" asked Weiss.

"BZZT….BZZZT…..AM….BZZZT"

Weiss looked back at me as if to check for confirmation.

"DO IT," said Penny.


	15. Chapter 15

_A Grimm is a being that exists and lives in ways that most humans can't compare. We live to serve, destroy, and consume. It's the reason why we're feared across all of Remnant. Despite this supposed power and fear humans have for us, we're still nothing more than tools. The majority of Grimm have no minds of their own and have been used as intimidating pets for corrupt humans._

 _I was such a Grimm at one point, simply created to counter to the God of Light's messengers: Silver-eyed warriors. We were formed to invade their minds, corrupt their morality, and create a new breed of warriors with eyes that turned humans into withering bags of flesh. There's a sort of pleasure to be had in seeing such powerful creatures suffering under our torment. I would have probably been content doing nothing but that if it hadn't been one for thing._

 _There was a certain Silver-Eyed warrior that I had grown quite fond of. A young woman from what's known as Atlas today. She was a naive little thing, sharing many of the same naive beliefs that Ruby does. I infected her mind and watched as she desperately tried to make reason of it all. She fought so hard, only for all of it to be in vain._

 _I had full possession of the Silver-eyed warrior's body, gaining access to the coveted eyes that were now mine to use. However, something stopped me from immediately attacking a nearby village. It was the feeling of what it meant to be human. I was able to think on my own, conjure complicated thoughts, and have access to the greatest power a human could acquire. I ended up enjoying the experience so much that I continued to stay in her body, even as it started to decay. For a while I would appear as a walking corpse. The skin on her body had long worn off and you could see bone fragments sticking out from every part of her. I was regarded as something of a myth for many years until the body finally decayed._

 _My desire for a body like that has only grown since then. I've infected many other humans, but they've all been nothing but disappointments. They were either weak or unable to give me the power that came with silver-eyed warriors. That's all changed recently with Ruby Rose falling under my control. Soon I'll once again have access to these eyes and the power that comes with it._

 _What I'm seeing before me right now is a glimpse of what the future could look like with Grimm being released from their chains. We'd finally be rid of the constant adversity from humans and regain our position as the ultimate predators, as things should be._

 _All that really stands in my way are the silver-eyed girls friends. The faunus and Atlesian body-puppet are of the biggest concern. Faunus are the only intelligent species able to sniff us out and the machine can detect me. The faunus is already injured, but I need to make sure she's no longer breathing. Ruby's conscious is still struggling to survive. What a pest._

 _She doesn't realize that I can summon Grimm of my own to fight her while in this plane of existence known as her subconscious._

 _From the pools of darkness comes an eight-legged monstrosity. Each of its beady eyes drip with red ooze that leave behind paint-like splats whenever they touch the ground. The grotesque body snaps and twists as it compresses itself into the form of a familiar face that only Ruby would recognize: Summer Rose. Her red eyes are covered by the hood covering her face._

" _My sweet girl," the Grimm says with the innocence of a mother. "Where have you gone?"_

" _She's down there," I say with a finger pointed to where I last saw the girl. "Now go, Goregumo and tear her apart. Make her suffer for as long as you can."_

 _The Grimm says nothing and leaps away, most likely anticipating the bait I've prepared for it._

" _I like this," I say while admiring my new body. "And soon it'll be mine."_


	16. Chapter 16

I took several deep breaths before I answered Penny. What she wanted me to do was something I couldn't go along with. Transferring her aura would surely kill her and I promised myself that I wouldn't let her go through something like that again, real or imagined.

Weiss continued to stare at me without saying anything. It was pretty clear that she understood something was wrong.

"Penny…." I said, "I can't….do….that…."

"NOW….BZZZT….BZZZT…..DO IT….NNNGNGNGNGN," said Penny. She was starting to spark even more. My younger self managed to rip out a number of circuits from her body; leaving her to survive by the string of life she was hanging onto.

"She really—" Weiss began to say, but stopped after seeing my eye shift in her direction. I must have looked really angry or something to make her stop in mid-sentence.

I wasn't sure what to do and I could see the light in Penny's eyes flashing as they struggled to stay on. She wouldn't have much time left. The options I had were to either find a way for her to make it or go ahead with what she wanted. I refused to let her go either way. I demanded myself to find some sort of solution. Even though I wanted to believe that she could be saved, part of me understood that it wasn't going to happen. The decision I made wouldn't be one I liked, but there really wasn't much of a choice.

"Okay….Penny…." I groaned.

"Ruby…." Said Weiss.

"I…I'll…." I could feel myself choking up before I could even finish. "I'll…. do it—"

"STOP!" A voice roared.

All three of us were jumped at the sound of the voice, even Penny. My eyes rolled in the direction that the voice had come from and saw someone standing in the corner. It appeared to be an adult and she had a red cloak covering her face. I felt my breath shorten as I realized how it was.

"Who are you?" asked Weiss, pulling Myrtenaster as she took a cautious step back.

"Please don't feel threatened by me," said the voice. It was a very soft and friendly voice, almost motherly. "I'm here to help."

"How do I know that?" asked Weiss. I could hear Myrtenaster shaking a little as she pointed it threateningly at the visitor. "Everybody else was devoured by the Grimm attack. These two are the only people I've managed to come across!"

The hooded visitor continued walking towards us.

"Stop!" Weiss shouted. "Don't think I won't do anything if you come too close!"

"I already said that you have no reason to fear me," said the visitor with a chuckle.

"STOP…BZZZT…BZZZT….GER…..BZZZT….DAN…." Penny went off. Her head was bobbing up and down as she spoke as quickly as she could, causing more sparks to fly out of her head.

"Your friend appears to have suffered a heavy blow," said the visitor. "Those Grimm…they don't care who they hurt as long as they get what they want."

She turned towards Penny and placed a caring hand on the top of her head.

"Don't worry," said the visitor. "I'll make sure nothing happens to my daughter."

"D-Daughter?" said Weiss, nearly falling backwards.

"You…"I muttered.

"Yes," said Summer. "It's me."

My entire body froze. I had no response—physical or mentally—to what I was looking at. Summer Rose was a renowned Huntress in her day, a silver-eyed warrior, leader of Team STRQ, and my mother. She disappeared when I was young, leaving myself with Yang as a caretaker of sorts. I used to spend entire weeks searching for her. My thought was that she was on a particularly long mission and would come back, but that never happened. I struggled for years to come to terms with this, even hating her a little for seemingly abandoning Yang and me.

I would learn years later that she had been killed by Salem while on a mission for Ozpin, having been told that she was vital to the objective. Summer Rose didn't plan on being a martyr, but she became one in a way. I saw her a couple times as a voiceless spirit that would guide me at times. Not once did I see her as the mother I knew. Not until that now. I wanted to reach out and hug her. It had been so long since I last felt her embrace, but I was unfortunately too weak to do that.

"This girl is my daughter," said Summer. "I understand that you've managed to keep her safe from those monsters."

"Yeah…" said Weiss, clearly unconvinced. "How did you find us?"

"I heard some loud buzzing from your friend over here," said Summer. I noticed that my mother continued to keep her hood on, obscuring her eyes. Maybe she was afraid to show the Silver Eyes around us.

"I…was hurt…" I moaned.

Summer smiled and placed a hand on my forehead. It was strangely cold, so much that my body twitched when her icy fingers brushed against my face.

"Don't worry," said Summer. "I've got you. Nothing will ever harm you. "

Those words. My lips quivered when I knew what she was referring to. My mother really had been with me all those years. This was different from the voiceless spirit. This incarnation recognized our songs and had the voice of my mother. It was hard to keep myself composed with all the emotions flying about.

"Let me take care of you," said Summer. She lifted both hands up and carefully took off her hood.

The smile on my face vanished when I saw red eyes shining from underneath her cloak. This was a Grimm.

"WEISS!" I shouted, hearing my voice crack in the process, "IT'S A GRIMM!"

Summer's teeth stuck out of her mouth, forming into large grotesque pincers covered in hair. A large hump shot out of her back as the rest of her body began to cover itself in hair. Summer's head grew four times larger, gaining multiple eyes that were all focused on me.

In place of my mother was a disgusting spider Grimm known as Goregumo. This was a shape shifting Grimm that took on the form of human women, tricking people into its trap before killing them. I was close to being another one of its victims.

"Get off her!" I heard Weiss shout. A beam of ice shot at the Grimm, bursting one of its eyes.

The Grimm squealed and stumbled, giving Weiss enough time to run over and grab me.

"This is going to be a problem," she said.

The Grimm recovered from her attack and spat out black ooze from its mouth. Weiss picked me up and jumped away just in time. The ooze was so strong and toxic that it managed to melt the concrete floor like it was made of ice.

Weiss held up Myrtenaster and slipped her finger against its blade, surrounding it in a flame.

"Try healing from this!" said Weiss, hitting the Grimm with a wave of fire that made it scream even louder.

Weiss then held Myrtenaster close to her and stood still as a glyph appeared behind us. She jumped up and pressed both her feet against it, using it to propel us right towards Penny.

"Ruby!" Goregumo shouted. It was using my mother's voice. "Please don't leave me alone again!"

I hated it for using my mother as a puppet.

"Shut up!" Weiss snapped, shooting at it with another blast of ice. Goregumo dodged it with surprising ease. The spider Grimm planted its feet into the ground and shook violently as a human body sprouted from its abdomen. That human was my mother.

"You'd leave your mother like this?" she shouted. Multiple spider-like arms sprouted from her hair, and each of them carried a sword.

"Damn it!" Weiss grunted. "It just keeps coming back!"

Weiss grabbed Penny by the shoulder and began to conjure up a speed glyph when Penny pulled away.

"What are you doing?" asked Weiss, dodging another shot of black sludge. "We need to get out of here! This thing is too much for us to handle as we are!"

"Stop talking and give my daughter back to me!" Goregumo screeched. It charged at Weiss with its swords. Weiss shot out four little glyphs that latched onto Goregumo's legs and kept it trapped for the time being.

"You think I'll be held back by this little diversion?" It said.

"It's going to break from that," said Weiss. "Get over here and leave with us, Penny!"

"…..BZZZT…..WON'T…." said Penny. "HAVE….MESSAGE…."

"…What…" I said.

There was a loud cracking sound as Goregumo broke free from Weiss's glyphs and grazed her shoulder with one of its swords. Weiss yelped and jumped away.

"I really didn't want to fight this thing," she said. "But it's not going to leave us alone if I don't."

She gripped Myrtenaster in her hands, both of them shaking.

"Isn't it funny," said Weiss. "We're trained to fight these Grimm in life or death situations, yet here I am trembling because I'm in a life or death situation.

"Give back my daughter!" Goregumo shouted.

Weiss clashed with the Grimm's swords, assisting herself with a gravity glyph. Goregumo stumbled back a little but managed to propel itself back up by using its spider-body to gain more momentum and push back against Weiss. Weiss countered with her swordsmanship, but each attempt to stab was stopped by one of its swords. The Grimm was much faster and skilled with its swordsmanship than Weiss was with hers. It even managed to hit Weiss with some of its ooze, greatly reducing her aura.

"I'm not falling here," Weiss grunted. "Not to the likes of you!"

Goregumo slipped the blades through her mouth, covering them entirely in the toxic ooze.

"Such brave words for someone who's about to die," said the Grimm.

"Shut up!" said Weiss. "I didn't say I was finished!"

"You didn't," said the Grimm. "I did!"

She spat out a large web that Weiss burned away with fire dust. As soon as Weiss burned it away, Goregumo leapt forwards and rammed Weiss in the stomach with her body. Two of her blades cut into Weiss's arms. Weiss screamed from the pain as ooze burned at her skin.

"It looks like my meal is finally here," said Goregumo, extending her mouth so that the spider-like teeth could get a bite out of Weiss.

The Grimm leaned down, black ooze dripping from the corners of its mouth.

"Weiss!" I shouted, fighting for my body to do something.

I closed my eyes when I saw the Grimm bite at Weiss but nothing happened. I opened my eyes again and saw Penny with her arm held up, its metal melting away from the ooze.

"Penny…." I gasped.

"Ruby," said Penny in what sounded like a pre-recorded voice. "This is to my best friend and mentor. Thank you for taking the time to know and understand me as I am. You've welcomed me as a friend since we first met and I haven't forgotten what that's meant to me. I've always admired your caring personality and ability to see things positively. I'm only sorry that I couldn't be around longer to experience more of that."

"Penny?" I said anxiously, "What are you-?"

"I've been asked to record this message. Who made the request is a mystery, but I understand that it's in case I meet an unfortunate end. Keep smiling, Ruby, and always be combat ready."

"Penny, stop!" said Weiss. "You can't leave us behind like this!"

"…..I WILL," said Penny. She stood up, sparks flying from her body. "DON'T…STOP ME!"

"Penny…." I said, feeling my body tremble. This was what she wanted and me stopping her would only go against her wishes. "We'll leave."

"Ruby!" said Weiss. "What are you saying?"

"PENNY!" I said, struggling to keep my eyes open as tears got in my eyes and blurred my vision. "THANK YOU!"

Weiss stared at Penny with her mouth open as she finally realized what needed to be done.

"RUBY…" said Penny. "…. FIND….YOUR FRIENDS! …THANK YOU…. FOR BEING MINE!"

Memories of Penny and I laughing together and teasing the rest of team RWBY flashed through my head as Weiss held me up and ran away using a speed glyph.

"PENNY!" I cried while being carried away. The final sounds I heard were of Penny's swords being conjured for the last time before Weiss and I disappeared.

 _Penny's log: Friendship is an abstract concept that I've never really been able to understand until now. At first I thought it was the simple concept of two acquaintances coming together. I've learned from my time at Beacon that friendship is something more. Friendship is the bond formed between two people who have surpassed simple acquaintanceship. It is the ability to care enough for someone else to the point that you go out of your way to help. I realize this now and I'm glad that I did._

 _I don't have much longer. My engines are slowing down. My swords are up at maximum capacity. I'm combat ready. And so is my opponent. She looks at me with eyes of condescension._

 _My eyes flare as I prepare for my final fight. The Grimm wields several blades that are stronger than mine. I understand my odds and know that I don't have much of a chance._

" _You're nothing but a waste of time," says the Grimm._

 _I smile at her. She doesn't know that I have just allowed Ruby to get one stop closer in stopping this mess. She will stop this threat. I have enough faith in her to understand that it is only inevitable. My only wish is that we can meet each other again, someday._

 _Penny's log: END._


	17. Chapter 17

" _...And then I went 'woooooosh' and drop kicked him right in the balls!" Yang shouted, waving her detached arm around like a toy plane._

" _It's funny," said Blake wearily. "It's been years since you first did that and I still can't help but feel amused by it."_

" _What?" Yang asked, cocking her head. "You mean detaching the arm? Why wouldn't you be amused by it? Not everybody can just take off a limb when they feel like it."_

 _Blake smiled and turned in her bed. She'd been sent there to rest after being attacked by Ruby. Yang had volunteered to keep her company while Weiss stayed with Ruby and Mark III. She and Blake were the two most unlikely pair of friends. Yang was a loudmouth who had a habit of getting involved in things she didn't necessarily need to, and Blake was the type of person who kept to herself and only really opened up to a small circle of people. Of all the people she'd befriended, Yang was the only one Blake could feel comfortable telling anything to. This, combined with Blake's secretive nature, led many to believe that the two had been involved romantically at one point. Blake smiled to herself as she remembered the rumors. How nice it must have been to have something so silly be of great concern._

" _Uh, Blake?" Yang asked. "You okay?"_

 _Blake snapped out of her trance and looked down at Yang. She had one eyebrow raised and a smirk on her face._

" _Uh….yeah," said Blake. "I was just-"_

" _Remembering the past?" Yang asked with a slight shrug. "You and Ruby do way too much of that. Always remembering the past and obsessing over when we  
were young. I mean...I get that and everything, but don't you ever stop to enjoy what's going on now?"_

 _Blake looked at the ceiling and frowned. What was there to enjoy? The team was starting to become a product of the past as younger teams rose to take their glory. Menagerie had opened its own Huntsmen Academy and many young faunus attended, inspired by the story of Blake Belladonna. They were all so much faster and stronger than she currently was, even with all her experience. It was honestly a little scary for her to think that some of them may have been capable of beating her._

" _Face it," Yang said with a smile. "We're old farts. Every single one of us. I miss being able to dress boldly and kicking lots of ass, but now I can enjoy time with my friends."_

" _I wish I had your level of optimism," said Blake._

" _Do I really need to remind you of when I lost my arm?" Yang asked. "I look back at how I acted and shake my head. Then again, I'm sure everyone would get angsty after having that happen!" Yang rolled her head back and laughed after saying this._

" _That wasn't funny," said Blake. "You were really hurt and lost."_

" _I was," said Yang, "doesn't mean I can't laugh about how I behaved now!"_

 _Blake hung her head. She found Yang difficult to understand._

"PENNY!" I screamed while Weiss continued to carry me. "WE...HAVE TO GO...AND GET HER!"

Weiss took a moment to stop running and firmly set me against the ground. She put her hands on my shoulders and glared at me. I could see that her eyes had gone red.

"Why do you think Penny did that?" she asked me.

I couldn't even answer because I was so emotionally stressed.

"Because she wanted us to escape! Returning to save her would only put us in the path of that Grimm again. Right now you and I don't have the means to take it down, and that's why we're going to hide until we do!"

My lips quivered when she said this. I hated taht she was right. I hated that we had to leave Penny behind.

"Now please cooperate with me," said Weiss. "I've got an idea."

"What...is it?" I asked.

"I'm going to try something."

Weiss gently put me down and straightened her posture. She was focused on the distance where the ruins of Beacon could be seen. Weiss then held up Myrtenaster and closed her eyes. A large glyph appeared behind her, glowing brighter as her forehead began to crease.

"I've got this…" Weiss muttered as something began to emerge from the glyph. It looked like the tip of something sharp. It was moving a little more and then, out of nowhere, stopped entirely.

"Damn it!" Weiss shouted, gripping Myrtenaster. "I was so close!"

"Summoning?" I asked.

Weiss's head snapped in my direction.

"How do you know about that?" she asked.

I forgot that this Weiss didn't know that I knew.

"I...uh...eavesdropped on you and your sister talking," I lied.

"How?" asked Weiss. "You're the least discreet person I've ever met. I would have definitely heard something."

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Never mind," said Weiss. "Now really isn't the time to worry about that. I was planning to summon a Grimm I once fought and have it clear a path for us, but I can't even seem to do that."

"Don't worry," I sighed. "Could be worse."

I was getting to the point where I could speak without taking a deep breath, but only in broken sentences.

"I don't know if I can be sure about that," said Weiss. "Beacon isn't that far, but there are so many Grimm. The two of us really can't do this by ourselves."

"Got that right," I groaned.

Weiss nervously played with her weapon as she tried to think of something. My ears twitched at an umwelcome sound. Two large Beowolves had found us and were panting heavily.

"You can't be serious," Weiss grunted. "Ruby, we're going to have to fight. I used up too much of my aura fighting that Grimm earlier and can't use glyphs."

I nodded and let Crescent Rose out. It was a lot heavier with me being that much weaker.

"What are you doing?" Weiss asked.

"Fighting," I answered.

"Not like that you are!" Weiss shouted.

A Beowolf jumped at her. Weiss gracefully slid underneath it and shoved her blade into its throat.

"This is just like we practiced, Winter," Weiss said to herself. "I promise that I can do this alone."

Another came charging and Weiss jumped up, shooting out two rounds of ice dust that punctured the Grimm. More of them had found us at this point and were forming a pack around us. I swung Crescent Rose as best as I could, growling as my muscles ached.

I somehow managed to take out two of the beowolves. They were simple Grimm. What they lacked in intelligence was made up with numbers. Lots of numbers.

"Where are they coming from?" Weiss panted. Her back was hunched and hair undone from Grimm clawing at it.

"Being made up there," I said, nodding my head towards Beacon.

"...what are you talking about?"

More came at us before I could give a proper answer. Each swing of Crescent Rose made my arms ache and legs quiver. I could feel my head getting lighter as I continued to swing. Weiss was slowing down too, probably having run out of aura. Everything looked like it was over for us.

"Are you two serious?" A voice said.

My vision had gone blurry and all I could see was a person standing a fair distance away from us. This person had long blonde hair and yellow gauntlets. That was all I needed to know.

"Shut up!" Weiss huffed. "Took you long enough to get here!"

"You're probably the only one who cares about punctuality," said Yang. "Now go take a rest and let the big kids handle this."

Weiss's eye twitched at Yang's snarky comment.

"As if," she panted.

Yang smiled and loaded her gauntlets.

"I was hoping you'd say that," she said. "Let's take care of these freaks."


	18. Chapter 18

Watching Yang fight was like watching a predator tear its prey apart. Grimm would come charging at her and get thrown away just as quickly. This Yang wasn't as polished in her fighting style and lacked the upgrades that the arm had given her. She fought with raw power and shotgun blasts, both of which were enough to tear apart the Grimm as if they were made of paper.

"She's just as reckless as ever," muttered Weiss. "But she'd better not get too comfortable with herself."

Weiss took a deep breath and brought up Myrtenaster close to her face. I could see a small circle of light forming right in front of her. The light grew stronger as Weiss's forehead continued to wrinkle with concentration.

"What is she doing?" asked Yang.

"I…I think…she's summoning!" I said.

"What?"

There was a small smirk from Weiss after hearing Yang's surprise. A group of Grimm came after Weiss with their fangs bared. Weiss's face gave off one last strain before her arms rose and pointed at the Grimm. Yang and I both watched as something began to emerge from the circle. It looked like some sort of armor.

"Look out!" shouted Yang.

Weiss gasped as two Grimm came from behind and pounced on her. Whatever she was summoning had also disappeared as a result of the surprise attack.

"I gottta do everything here!" Yang growled as she confronted the Grimm and pushed them off with two fierce punches.

"Shut up!" Weiss shrugged. "I thought I was actually going to do it this time!"

"Well make sure you're actually sure when you're fighting something!" Yang shot back. "How would you feel if we all died because I decided to try something that I wasn't completely sure about!"

Another Grimm made an attempt to pounce and Weiss stopped it with a single stab.

"You want to see what a clean and efficient kill looks like?" she asked. "Just watch and learn."

Weiss pulled her sword arm back and used it to adjust her weapons dust. I always enjoyed watching the halter move on its own as it switched dust canisters.

"There's something strange," Weiss said while moving the sword back in an offensive position. "I feel as if I've learned something that I shouldn't. Like it's something I've known all along…"

"You really going to experience and existential crisis now?" asked Yang.

"I knew that was going to go over your head," said Weiss. "I'll just get to the point and show you what I mean."

Weiss held up Myrtenaster and clenched her fist as a burst of aura went from her body to the swords tip.

The Grimm let out a roar and went in for a bite. Weiss gracefully jumped and out of the way and landed with Myrtenaster shoved right into the top of its head. The force of her attack was so strong that it caused the Grimm's neck to snap from the blow.

Two more Grimm came at her and Weiss flipped around to deliver a flurry of fast-moving shots using fire dust. The Grimm were sent flying from the power each blast had in them. Weiss made sure to look back at Yang and smirk. She was probably enjoying the astonished look on Yang's face.

"How long have you been hiding that from us, huh?" Yang asked playfully, even giving Weiss a little nudge on the shoulder.

"It's as I said," said Weiss. "It's like I always knew it.

"Weird," said Yang. "But you missed a spot. Let me wipe it off for you." Yang ran towards a single Grimm and finished it off with a single uppercut.

It was like nothing ever happened once the Grimm disintegrated. Only the rubble and the three of us were left.

"Okay," said Weiss said with one deep breath. "Would you mind explaining to us where you were this entire time?"

"Funny," Yang said with her arms crossed. "I was just about to ask you the same thing."

"You were fighting Mercury…and then Ruby…. RUBY!"

Weiss and Yang both stopped their conversation to stare at me. I'd been a silent observer the entire time. That usually happened when those two were together. Their personalities were so dominant that they pushed Blake and me to the back.

"WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU?" Yang screamed. She ran over to me and touched me with her hands. I'd forgotten what it felt like to be touched by both her organic hands. It was almost soothing.

"Yang…." I slowly said. "I'm…happy to see you…."

"Don't talk too much," said Yang. "I don't want you losing any energy. Just make sure you're okay. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I…wont," I said with a smile. "I just…need aura…back."

"We'll wait here until you're sure you're fine," said Yang.

"Do you even know what our original plan was?" asked Weiss.

"Getting mauled by Grimm?"

"No!" Weiss's face was beginning to turn red. "We're planning to reach the top of Beacon! That's where the source of all this is!"

Yang looked up at Beacon and cocked her head. "I don't see anything suspicious…."

"We'll explain everything while we wait for Ruby to recover."

It was then that I remembered somebody very important to our team and the plan if it was going to go successfully. A huntress team is only as good as a team and nothing less.

"Blake…" I said weakly.

Weiss and Yang both looked at each other and then at me.

"That's right," said Yang quietly. "She disappeared."

"Do you think she's…"? Weiss Began.

"No," Yang cu t in. "I don't. She's out here somewhere and we need to find her if this is going to work."

"The only problem is knowing where to even look," said Weiss. "Scouting out a wasteland filled with Grimm is borderline suicide. Then again, Team RWBY isn't exactly known for making the most rational decisions."

 _Parasite watched as the three members of Team RWBY spoke with each other. She recognized each of them from what she'd come across in Ruby's memories. These girls were all important to her and their well being was put above all else. The only one missing was the Faunus and Parasite figured that it wouldn't help much._

 _The huntresses had a lot of spirit and worked well as a team. If there was anything to admire, it would be their tenacity and camaraderie. Other than that, Team RWBY was just another pair of naïve Huntresses-In-Training. Goregumo already took care of the android. Even if they had managed to defeat her Grimm, Parasite had one more surprise for them and it was a big one._


	19. Chapter 19

"How long are you going to stand there, Blake?" asked Yang. Her old friend had been standing over Ruby with a concerned look on her face for some time.

"Until I feel like resting again," said Blake.

"But you never feel like resting," Yang pouted. "You're either on a mission or on the verge of being in one. When have you ever taken the time to just sit back and rest?"

Blake smiled at her old friend. Yang was always concerned for her well being, treating her as if she were her own sibling. It was sweet of her to care so much, even if came across as overbearing.

"Mark III mentioned a Grimm inside of her head," said Blake.

Yang's eyebrows rose at what Blake had said.

"That's correct," said Mark III. "She was experiencing a hallucination when you were attacked. Parasite is known to do this quite a bit in order to mentally break down victims.

"I see," said Blake, focusing her attention on Ruby.

"You've been through so much all your life," said Blake. She held out one of her hands and carefully rested it on Ruby's forehead. Blake could sense something different about Ruby even before being told about the Grimm. Faunus had a sixth sense that allowed them to identify things that people ordinarily couldn't.

"You're really worried about her…" said Mark III.

"I am," said Blake. "Ruby is someone important to me. She accepted me at a time when n I was afraid others wouldn't. An innocent gesture like that can mean a lot to certain people."

Mark III smiled at Blake. "I understand."

"So your family has a legacy of summon things you've killed?" asked Yang. She'd been pestering Weiss with questions like this as they made their way closer to Beacon. I'd managed to stand back up, but I wobbled from time to time. My muscles still needed some more aura to fuel them.

"I wonder if I should write down everything I say and stick them to your forehead" Weiss muttered.

"Uh…why would you do that?" asked Yang.

"So you'll stop asking me the same questions over and over."

"Well that wouldn't happen if you weren't so boring!" Yang snapped. "My bring just zones out every other minute because it can't stand to hear you talk any longer than it has to"

"What?"

"Guys," I sighed. "Just stop."

"You really need to watch yourself," said Yang. "Your knees keep shaking and it's making me nervous."

I forced myself to smirk at Yang. It was hard to because my mouth wouldn't stop quivering.

"You worry too much," I said sarcastically.

Yang smirked back at me and continued walking.

I had to maintain a positive attitude in order to keep Yang and Weiss at ease. They were used to a cheery and idealistic Ruby Rose. They wouldn't want to hear the mouthing of a jaded old woman.

 _The three members of Team RWBY would have been very surprised if they had only looked up. A familiar face was watching them from the top of Beacon. Her cat-like ears would twitch every time one of them spoke, desperately trying to catch any bit of dialogue between them._

" _What are you looking at, Blake?" asked Parasite, taking the form of a teenage Ruby Rose._

" _Who are you?" asked Blake._

" _What do you mean?" asked Parasite? "I thought I told you that there was a Grimm pretending to be me."_

" _Explain the three members of my team talking to the 'Grimm' in question." Blake was looking at Parasite with one hand reaching for Gambol Shroud._

 _Parasite saw the anger in Blake's eyes and scoffed. "You want to try attacking me with that pathetic excuse for a weapon?" she asked._

" _I asked you a question," said Blake, "And I'm asking you to answer them. Now."_

" _Or what?" asked Parasite, smiling wide enough for her elongated tongue to stick out._

 _Blake's angry face briefly changed to that of shock before turning back. She then disappeared with a quick flash and pulled out Gambol Shroud. Parasite didn't even attempt to dodge and grabbed Gambol shroud with her bare hands. The blade sunk into her skin and drew out dark-black blood. It would fizzle into a mist as soon as it touched the ground._

 _Blake's eyes widened as Parasite's eyes turned into a fiery red._

" _You really think you stand a chance against me, Faunus?" asked parasite. "Your kind may be superior to humans when it comes to physical capabilities, but remember that you'll always be second-rate to the Grimm."_

 _Parasite grabbed Gambol Shroud from out of Blake's hands and opened her mouth even wider. Her teeth feel out as large snake-like teeth took their place. With one quick jerk of her neck, parasite sunk her large teeth in Blake's neck. She chuckled darkly as Blake's entire body disappeared in a black mist._

" _Don't play games with me, Faunus," said Parasite. "Your little clones won't save you from me."_

 _She disappeared just as quickly as Blake and moved fast enough to slam her face against a wall._

" _You're really a pain," she said to Blake. She was beginning to speak with a small hiss that would end every sentence. "Your little friend was the same way."_

 _Parasite could feel Blake's breathing pick up at that sentence._

" _Your Faunus friend with the mask," she taunted. "Do you know what I did when he tried to stand in my way?"_

"… _No…" Blake said weakly._

" _I pierced his skull and chewed his bones," Parasite laughed. "And the same would probably happen to you if I didn't have something in mind…."_

 _Blake's eyes widened. She struggled to free herself as parasite kept her hand firmly on Blake's face. The snake-like tongue shot forward and penetrated Blake's head. There was an uneasy feeling of something filling her head before Blake fell unconscious._


	20. Chapter 20

_Mark III had her head rolled back, seemingly in a daze as she scanned through various files in her hard drive. They were all images taken of a younger Ruby Rose and Mark I. They seemed to be memories created and saved to remember. What made these most unusual were long they'd lasted. Recreating Mark II and III weren't easy feats and a lot of memories were removed in the process, yet here these were as if they had been freshly made._

" _What do you see in this girl?" Mark III asked. "All I see are memories of you two bonding…and there are so many of them."_

" _That's what it means to have a friend," said the voice in Mark II's head. "You create moments that you two never forget, and it's all because you've created a bond that can't be broken."_

 _Mark III paused and flickered the lights in her eyes for a moment. Sentimental people usually said such things, and machines weren't known for being highly emotional. Mark I was said to be a bit of an oddity, but this was something that went beyond being a little strange._

" _You confuse me," said Mark III._

" _Only because you have yet to experience it yourself."_

The three of us finally arrived at Beacon Academy. It looked much worse than either of us had imagined. Cinder Fall managed to make the place look like a graveyard after her attack, but this was like looking at the aftermath of an apocalypse. Grimm were swarming the entire place and the building itself looked like it had been shredded like paper.

"You're saying one Grimm did all of this?" asked Weiss. Her eyes hadn't blinked once since arriving at Beacon.

"Not exactly," I said. "I'm guessing that she had help."

"She's going to need help after I knock her teeth out like a pair of dentures," said Yang. "Why are we still standing out here anyway? I want to beat some Grimm!"

"We can't just walk into a place like that as we are," said Weiss.

"Any why not?" asked Yang, shoving her face close to Weiss's. "These things destroyed everything we know and Blake could be in there for all we know! Are you scared? Do you think we'll lose?"

"No," Weiss said with a shake of her head. "I just think we need to strategize. There's a Grimm chasing after Ruby and myself. This Grimm was unlike any other we've faced. I'm concerned that there could be more like that hiding inside."

Yang stroked her chin and looked curiously at the many beowolves surrounding the doors. "I guess that could be possible," she admitted grudgingly. "So what's your big strategy?"

"We're going to need a distraction that will draw the Grimm to one place so that we can sneak by. Only then do we have a chance against whatever awaits us."

Yang scratched her head. "That's great and all…but I'm not going to volunteer as bait."

"I think she's saying that we can maybe set up a distraction," I said.

Yang looked at me and smiled. "I get it now," she said with a wink. "You always manage to make the most sense."

Weiss's jaw fell open but no words came out.

"I have an idea…" I said sheepishly.

"Let's hear it!" said Yang.

Weiss gave Yang a side-eyed glare.

"I'll handle these Grimm myself."

Weiss and Yang looked at each other.

"You're hardly in a position to do that," said Weiss.

"yeah!" said Yang. "You were moaning on the ground not that long ago."

"I know," I responded, "But I know I can take these guys on."

"I know you can too," said Yang. "But I also know you're going to faint if you keep doing that. Leave these suckers to Super-Yang!"

"Super Yang?" Weiss asked. She said that as if she had just heard the stupidest thing ever.

"Yup," said Yang. "Now sit down while a real fighter makes work of these losers."

Yang didn't even give me time to explain as she came charging at the Grimm. She still had the same fighting style I remembered Yang having at that age. It was reckless and destructive, but it did very well against Grimm. Still, I wasn't going to allow Yan to have all the fun. There was something I wanted to try out just once. Something I'd been able to do for some time, just not as a fifteen year old.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Here we go," I said to myself. "Accelerate."

My heart rate began to pick up a lot. I could feel my chest thumping as it went even faster. There was a rush in my head that soon followed the rest of my body. My mind was much more alert and I felt like I had just awakened from a long sleep. This was a technique known as Acceleration. I learned over the years that my semblance can be pushed even further when going beyond the limitations of its initial use. Yes, speed means just going fast at first. What I didn't know was that it meant I could affect other pars of my body as well. This included my heart. Acceleration gave me an adrenaline boost that made all my attacks significantly stronger. The only drawback was that it required a lot of aura to keep my body from being damaged under the pressure.

I took one step and was already directly in front of a Grimm. It took one look at me and was destroyed within three slices.

"What was that?" asked Weiss.

"This is the power of a Huntress!" I roared.

Yang laughed and said, "Go Sis!"

I would move once, slash the Grimm, and change my ammunition all at once. This was a speed that nobody else could reach. I fired off several lightning rounds that sent the Grimm flying back. Weiss and Yang were not watching in awe as I continued cutting down the Grimm like beanstalks. Every movement was like a paintbrush being splashed against an easel. I forgot to mention that my semblance could also be used to alter how I perceived things. This meant I could also make things appear slower than they were, giving me a much more accurate way to attack and counter.

My little moment ended with me standing before a graveyard of Grimm. Weiss and Yang were still shocked and weren't even moving.

"Oh that?" I asked innocently, jerking my head at the piles of Grimm behind me. "That's just a little taste of what's in store for the Grimm inside."

"Why didn't you use that earlier?" asked Weiss.

"I…I don't know," said stupidly. Looking back, using Acceleration would have probably helped to defeat the Grimm we'd encountered.

"I'm just glad you're on my side," said Yang. "Now how about we go in there and find Blake while simultaneously kicking Parasite's big pimply ass?"

"Your crass vocabulary never ceases to amaze me," said Weiss sarcastically.


	21. Chapter 21

The inside of Beacon looked exactly as we expected it to. Everything was in ruins with claw and tooth marks almost everywhere. We couldn't see what it looked like in its entirety because of how dark it was. The formerly majestic amphitheater looked more like an ancient ruin from long ago. We walked very slowly, holding our weapons close and keeping a close eye on our surroundings.

"There's a remarkable lack of Grimm," said Weiss.

"Yeah," said Yang. "You think somebody got here before we did?"

"Probably not," I said. "We would have heard something if that were the case."

Even though I dismissed Yang's suggestion, something really did give off the impression that somebody had arrived before we did. Grimm were destructive, but they only attacked buildings structures when people were sure to be inside. Why would Grimm attack an empty room for no reason whatsoever?

"Ouch!" Weiss shouted.

"Are you okay?" I asked nervously. I was really on edge after losing Penny and didn't even want to consider losing my teammates as a possibility.

"She's fine," said Yang. "Probably chipped her toenail after stepping on a rock or something. That's why you don't bring heels to a battle zone."

"I can always count on you to have the biggest of sympathies towards others," said Weiss sarcastically.

I cocked my head at what Weiss was complaining about and saw that her foot had been hurt pretty badly. Ironically enough, Yang was kind of right. Weiss's heels were squashed and it looked like her toes had been badly bruised.

"…Because walking through the abandoned ruins of Beacon was definitely something I'd been anticipating!" shouted Weiss, continuing her argument with Yang.

"You go to a monster hunting school and choose to wear heels of all things," Yang spat. "That makes as much sense as wearing sweaters to the beach!"

"Hey!" Weiss countered, "sometimes it gets cold on the beach."

"H-Hey guys?" I stammered.

"You would know all about being cold," Yang went on.

"Guys!" I said a little louder.

"It's called emotion management," Weiss shot back. "Something you're severely lacking."

"SHUT UP!" I shouted.

This time Weiss and Yang stopped what they were saying and looked at me.

I took one deep breath and said, "There's something I just noticed about the floor. Have any of you been noticing a lot of these weirdly shaped rocks lying around?"

Yang and Weiss looked down. It was pretty dark inside, so we couldn't exactly see everything unless we were very close to it.

"Yeah…" said Yang. "You think it's from the building?"

I picked up one of the rocks and felt around it with my fingers. The texture felt a little too smooth to be a rock or any of the metallic structures sued to build beacon. There were also some large holes on one side. I moved my fingers around it some more and stopped after brushing against something smooth and a little jagged.

"Is something wrong?" asked Weiss. "Ruby?"

I dropped what I was holding onto and stepped back. My mind kept thinking of ways to deny that I had felt what I did. It was an uncomfortable truth I didn't want to face.

"Weiss," I whispered, "cast a light."

"Okay…" Weiss said after giving me a raised eyebrow. She lifted Myrtenaster above her head and lit its tip with fire dust to act as a torch. We all gasped after seeing what we'd been walking on.

The floor was covered in the skeletal remains of people.

"H-How?" Weiss gasped.

Yang's eyes grew wide as she stared at the bones, open-mouthed.

"What kind of Grimm did this?" I asked out loud. The original attack on Beacon had been filled with lesser Grimm that could be taken out easily. Cinder had summoned the Grimm Dragon that time, but it was much too big to be hiding in Beacon.

"That Grimm…" I heard Yang growl. I saw her fists shaking as her eyes began to water. "That Grimm…. I'm going to kill it. I'm going to rip it to pieces and make it suffer!"

"Yang?" I asked.

"Look at what it did!" Yang shouted. "Everyone we know…they're just…"

"We still have each other," I said hopefully. "I know it doesn't change anything, but wouldn't you rather have at least one person you care about left alive? I know I would."

Yang sniffed a little while keeping both of her fists clenched. She half-smiled and ruffled my hair a little.

"Thanks, sis," she said quietly. "It's nice to know I still have you."

CHOMP. CHOMP. CHOMP.

"What was that?" asked Weiss.

CHOMP. CHOMP. CHOMP.

"I don't know," I said. There was something else inside with us. I looked all over and saw no signs of Grimm nearby.

SPLAT.

Something wet landed on my forehead. I brushed it off and looked at it.

CHOMP. CHOMP. CHOMP.

My hands shook as I looked up and saw a hideous Grimm sinking its teeth into the bloodied remains of a student.

This Grimm was a special type that one didn't see all that often. Nicknamed "Grimm Hybrids," these Grimm bore a stronger resemblance to people than your average Grimm and could even speak in some instances. They were incredibly rare and most Huntsmen didn't even see one in their lifetime. GoreGumo had also been one, which told me that Parasite favored these types.

CHOMP.

A splatter of blood landed on the floor as the Grimm took one last bite. It then jumped down from the ceiling and landed on the floor before us. It was enormously large. Just one of its feet was large enough to crush an Atlesian Paladin. Most Grimm were all black with bone plates. This one had it too, but there also appeared to be open holes in the black surface that exposed bloody flesh. One top of its head were two massively bloated eyes that looked like they were struggling to leave the sockets. The worst part of all was the foul stench of rotting bodies that followed this Grimm everywhere it went.

"Who is this freak?" asked Yang. "Is this who killed everybody in here?"

"It seems that way," said Weiss. Even she sounded a little shaken from what she was looking at. "I…I just never…never really knew there were Grimm so…so…disgusting."

The Grimm looked at me and bared its rotten teeth at me.

"Be prepared," I said urgently. "It's ready to attack!"

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Yang shouted. She fired up her semblance and charged at the Grimm.

"Yang!" I shouted. Stop it!"

The Grimm reached into its back and pulled out a long, sharp-looking bone from its spine.

"EWWWW!" Weiss shouted.

I pulled out Crescent Rose and made a dash towards Yang.

"Just try and hurt me you big ugly bastard!" Yang shouted.

The Grimm let out a roar and thrust the bone forward to use as a spear. This kind of attack could ordinarily be countered with a summon from Weiss, but she couldn't do that at the moment. I had to think quickly before Yang got pierced.

"Time Glyph!" I shouted.

Weiss's head shot up at my command.

"R-Right!" She stammered.

Weiss cast a giant glyph under me that slowed down the speed of the Grimm's attack. I darted right into Yang and shoved her out of the way.

"Hey!" said Yang. "What are you doing?"

The Grimm let out a roar and threw the spear, sending it right through the walls like they were made of paper.

"That!" I screamed. "What do you think you're doing? Running off and fighting this thing without us?"

Yang stared at me for a brief moment. "Ruby…" she said in a light whisper. "You're…different…"

I probably did seem a lot different from the normally nonchalant Ruby they were used to. This was probably her first time I'd ever yelled at her without joking.

"I'm worried about you because I care!" I shouted. "Now work with us or this Grimm will rip us apart!"

Yang looked deep into my eyes and nodded. A part of me felt like she'd seen who I really was underneath my younger exterior.

"Can you guys hurry up?" Weiss shouted. She had several glyphs surrounding her as she jumped from the floor to the other side of the room. "I'm not going to be fighting this thing alone!"

"We're on it!" I said. "Let's take this guy down!"

"Yeah!" Yang smiled.

The Grimm rolled its head back and then arched it forward to shoot out a sticky ball of blood from its mouth. The ball hit Weiss and slammed her against the wall.

"I can't get this off of me!" she said while struggling to get the substance off her body.

I looked at yang and opened my mouth before closing it again after looking at her arm. Yang had an attachment known as the "drill" that was very handy in this sort of situation. This was one of those rare moments where I wish Yang still had her mechanical arm.

The Grimm had its attention on us now. Its knuckles had grown to be even larger than normal, and possibly stronger too.

"Somebody help me!" Weiss shouted.

"We'll get on that!" I assured her. "Yang…time for a new coordinated attack….uhhh…..ENABELER!"

"What did you just call me?" Yang shouted.

The Grimm's knuckled slammed directly into her body. With one blow, Yang was sent flying through the walls as well. I took the advantage of the Grimm's distraction to rapidly swing Crescent Rose in on arm as I ran underneath it.

"Let's see how you handle this!" I taunted. A ring of fire lit up around the blade of Crescent Rose as it continued to swing, resembling a ring of fire. The Grimm blocked my blade with a bone that it pulled out of its shoulder, but that was exactly what I planned on.

"Thanks!" I said, moving Crescent Rose just a little so that I could shoot the Grimm right in the face with a round of dust. It managed to take the fire out with a spurt of blood from its mouth. That gave me enough time to reach Weiss and free her by shooting the blood with fire dust.

"Took you long enough!" said Weiss sarcastically.

The Grimm slammed its fist into the floor with so much force that Weiss and I both shook. The power from its fist was enough to crack the floor open.

"Looks like this Grimm takes after Yang," said Weiss. "Which tells me that it needs the same lesson in etiquette that she does."

Weiss spun around and summoned a glyph behind her. "It's time for me to display something I've been working on for a while."

The Grimm shot out another ball of blood towards Weiss with the intention of trapping her again.

"Don't think that'll work this time," Weiss said with a smirk. She jumped straight into the blood with Myrtenaster pointed in front of her.

"Try a taste of dry ice dust," she said.

Weiss shot out a form of ice dust that emitted a strong gaseous output. It sent the blood dispersing and hit the Grimm's face, sending it backwards.

I ran underneath Weiss and shouted, "Ice Flower!"

Weiss landed behind me and encased my bullets in ice. I shot out a couple and each of them countered the blood balls shot at us. The Grimm looked like it was about to attack again, but stood in place and grabbed at its chest.

"What happened?" I asked.

Weiss smirked at me. "Dry ice and blood don't mix well together," she said. "I had a feeling this would happen. "

The Grimm, in what appeared to be an act of desperation, pulled out two large bones that appeared to have been abnormally grown. It was jagged in several direction had had a lot of grooves sticking out of it.

Both of the bones appeared to have some sort of ability, because just one swing was enough to cover the nearby walls with the same odd-looking grooves.

"Looks like bone cancer," said Weiss.

"We'll just have to make sure it doesn't touch us," I said.

Weiss nodded.

We charged at the Grimm. It swung its bones at us, leaving behind bone tumors and growths behind. I jumped up and spun Crescent Rose with all the force my arms could create. The force was strong enough to send me flying towards the Grimm in an attack I called, "UFO."

The Grimm grabbed Crescent Rose mid-slice and squeezed as the blade sunk its its hand.

Two rounds of dry ice hit its stomach and the Grimm immediately let go of me. I wasted no time and sliced it right in the stomach, causing a lot of blood to spurt out.

The Grimm opened its mouth wide and released a cloud of gas that carried the smell of rotting corpses. My eyes watered from the odor as it covered my body. I was wide open and the Grimm knew it. My blurred vision could see a fist moving towards me and I couldn't even respond in time.

"Don't think I'll let you off that easy!" I heard Weiss say. A wall of ice rose from the surface and took the attack at full force.

Weiss then jumped up and landed on a glyph that had been summoned mid-air. She then spun around and shot out four rounds of ice dust that took the form of arrows.

Each of them shot out several spikes of ice when they landed. I didn't even know Weiss was capable of doing that so early.

I know it sounds like we were doing well, but the reality was that this Grimm was the definition of "tankie". It lost blood with every attack, but would just get right back up and attack with even more ferocity. I had a feeling that this would take a while if we didn't think of another strategy.

"Hey!" I heard someone shout from outside. "Back off my sister before I make your life hell."

"Yang!" I shouted happily.

She was glowing bright yellow. That punch from the Grimm looked like it really pushed her strength to its limits.

The Grimm turned around and ran at her with both of its bone spears raised.

"Yang! Look out!" I shouted.

The Grimm charged at Yang with the bone spear in hand. To our surprise, Yang actually managed to grab the spear with both her hands and keep it in place. She growled as her feet sunk into the cracked surface. I could see Ember Celica's fingers being covered in the tumors.

"Weiss! Set up a Glyph for me to jump on!" I commanded.

"Right!"

The Glyph was set up and I hopped right on. I bent my knees and then straightened them as I leaped towards the Grimm while simultaneously spinning my body into a vortex. I moved with so much speed that I actually managed to pierce through the Grimm's body. It was enough to make it loosen its grip on the spear for just a bit.

Yang winked at me and then hopped onto the Grimm's head.

"Die! You! Ugly! Shithead!" Yang shouted each time she struck its head. Blood spurted out with every rage-induced punch Yang gave it.

"Turn the surface to ice!" I ordered.

Weiss stuck Myrtenaster into the floor and created a sheet of ice that the Grimm began to slip on.

Yang snuck up and screamed as she unleashed a flurry of powerful punches. Each one sent the Grimm reeling backwards as they went off like a round of bullets.

"Ice Capsule!" I shouted.

Weiss somehow understood what this meant and covered me in dry ice. I could feel my aura depleting as it kept me from being burned by the ice. I used my new ice cloak to make a dash towards the Grimm and strike its neck. It hissed as the blood around its neck ruptured. I then took out Crescent Rose and used it to slice open its neck entirely.

Yang gave it another powerful punch to the kneecap. This time the attack had enough power behind it to break completely shatter the kneecap and bring the Grimm ot one knee.

The Grimm breathed heavily as it turned its lifeless eyes in Yang's direction. She cocked her arm back as shotgun bullets fell to her side.

"It takes a lot more than blood and bones to scare a huntress," Yang said with a very cocky smirk.

The Grimm made one last roar. This roar sounded more like one of suffering and pain than the aggressive rage Grimm normally gave. I could hear the sound of thousands of bones cracking from inside the Grimm.

"Stop it before it continues!" I shouted.

Weiss ran around it with the assistance of speed glyphs and traced a circle of ice around the Grimm.

She then jumped back and swung Myrtenaster, prompting the ice to rise up and surround the Grimm. We all waited with our breath held as the Grimm stood in place. I could already see cracks in the ice. This Grimm wasn't going down that easily.

The ice shattered into tiny pieces as the Grimm's back opened up and an enormous skeleton emerged. The skeleton dripped a seemingly endless amount of blood and was even bigger than the Grimm it came from.

"Bloody Bones," I said out loud.

"What?" said Weiss.

"That's the name of this Grimm," I said. "A Grimm of flesh and blood. It searches Remnant for bones to chew on and add to its constantly growing body. This is going to take a lot of teamwork."

The skeleton continuously let out the gaseous stench from its mouth. The blood it was covered in probably had the same stickiness that we'd been seeing from it. The bones were probably as powerful as what we'd been fighting against as well.

"Looks like someone got carried away with the face lifts," Yang joked. "Now stand still while I give you a full-body makeover, courtesy of yours truly."

The Grimm swung at yang and she blocked the attack and ended up sticking to the skeleton's fist like glue. To make matters worse, she was being covered in the same tumors that we'd also seen earlier.

"Damn it!" I shouted. I had already used acceleration. Too many uses of it and my body would surely break, but I couldn't lose Yang.

A line of fire shot out from behind me and struck the skeleton's arm. It didn't hurt the Grimm, but it took it by surprise enough for Yang to be released.

"BOOOOOONES!" The Grimm roared. It spoke in a slow and muffled voice that shook the entire room.

"It's coming for us!" shouted Weiss.

Yang attempted to stop it and was slammed into the floor by its elbow. The Grimm opened its mouth wider as it began to fill the room with its gaseous stench.

"I'm going to try and summon!" Weiss shouted.

"No!" I shouted back. "You can't do that yet!"

"It's better than nothing!"

She was right, but I didn't want to take such a gamble. I took a deep breath as I prepared acceleration one more time. My body would take even longer to recover. I didn't care. Team RWBY would not be defeated just yet.

The Grimm moved towards me and was stopped by a fast moving slice down its face. Its skull cracked just a bit as the mysterious attacker disappeared in a black shadow.

"I wasn't expecting to find you all here," said Blake Belladonna. She looked back at me with her serious face. It looked like she'd taken a beating sometime earlier. Her face was covered in scratches and there appeared to be several bruises on her arms.

"Blake!" Yang said with a smile. "You're alive!"

"For now," she said shortly. "How about we take this Grimm down first?"

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you," I said.

Team RWBY was back and prepared to beat the odds.


	22. Chapter 22

"Trying to steal my epic entrances?" Yang asked playfully. The four of us were reunited at last and staring down the fearsome Grimm known as Bloody Bones. This was definitely a category of Grimm that were considered the most dangerous and often needed a group of Huntsmen to take down. Every breath it took released more of that nauseating stench into the already stuffed room. Blake would be a welcome addition and allow for more combos that I wouldn't have been able to do without her.

"I love to engage in silly antics as much as the next person, but shouldn't we be focusing our attention on the monstrosity in front of us?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah, but—"

"But nothing!" Weiss shouted back. "We could all be crushed in an instant because you had to say something stupid and unfocused!"

"They've been doing this the entire time, haven't they?" Blake asked.

"Yep," I sighed.

Loud cracks were coming from the legs of Bloody Bones. I wasn't sure what was happening until I saw it slowly growing with every crack.

"It's trying to make itself bigger!" I shouted out loud. "Let's Checkmate it!"

Blake and Weiss both dashed ahead of me and began to attack Bloody Bones with several attacks. Weiss's stabs managed to create tiny holes in the bones while Blake's slashes managed to crack them even further.

Bloody Bones was well aware of what they were up to and unleashed a waterfall of blood from its mouth. Weiss created a glyph to jump away from while Blake allowed a shadow clone to take the attack.

"Ladybug!" I shouted, seeing an opportunity to blitz the Grimm while its body was leaning forward. My body was moving so fast that it began to create a wind current that was strong enough to send the blood in another direction. Blake followed behind me and unleashed four explosive fire clones. Each of them erupted at Bloody Bones' feet and managed to break one of its toes.

"Good job!" I said to Blake.

Blake looked back at me and nodded.

"Don't think I'm letting you off that easily!" Yang said while jumping over me. She hadn't unleashed her semblance yet, but the tone of her voice gave me the impression that it would happen soon enough.

"I've got a little surprise for you!" Yang said while cocking Ember Celica. She then shot out two rounds of dust ammunition that grew into giant boulders. Both of the boulders slammed against Bloody Bones so hard that it sent the creature stumbling backwards.

"Ya like that?" Yang taunted. "And I've got more where that came from!"

I was surprised by Yang's use of the various dust ammunition. In fact, everybody was surprising me with how much they could do. I don't remember Team RWBY being capable of doing half the things I'd seen them do.

"Is that what you've been bragging about this entire semester?" Weiss chuckled. "Perhaps I should show you what happens when a Schnee puts in time and effort."

Weiss stuck Myrtenaster into the floor and screamed loudly as her body emitted an unbelievable amount of aura. Four giant glyphs appeared around her and moved to form a square-like shape. Weiss took Myrtenaster out of the floor and began to swing it wildly. Lightning, fire, and ice rounds were being thrown around as the glyphs kept them contained. Next, Weiss jumped back and raised both arms. The square continued to shrink in size until it was the size of a single dust round. Weiss pointed Myrtenaster at the Grimm and smirked.

"I call this the Elemental Troika Bomb."

"That's stupid," Yang muttered.

The cube exploded and unleashed all the elemental attacks at once. It was so powerful that it completely blew off half of the Grimm's face. I could see its tongue moving about from inside the mouth now that one half was completely exposed.

Weiss fell backwards and began to breath heavily.

"Weiss?" I shouted. "What's wrong?"

"Doing that…takes…a lot out of me…" she huffed. Weiss's entire body was drenched from sweat and shaking profusely. I couldn't imagine the toll that attack took on her.

"That's what happens when you show off too much at once," Yang winked.

"Kindly…fuck off…"

"Not very ladylike of you."

"You're…one to talk…"

Bloody Bones roar grew hoarse as its newly destroyed face began to leak a continuous flow of blood. As gross as the sight was, an important detail had just been exposed.

"Attack the brain!" I commanded.

"Don't need to tell us twice!" Blake responded. She made more attacks for the feet, as they were the most exposed and easiest to attack. Yang ignored the tactical approach and opted to go right for the head. Bloody Bones slashed at Yang with its claw-like fingers. The attack looked like it took out a large chunk of her aura and was strong enough to send her flying away.

"Yang!" I shouted.

"Damn it!" Blake growled. "This isn't the time for something like this to happen!"

Blake's heard quickly turned at the sound of a groan. Bloody Bones had shot out a ball of blood that hit her directly. She struggled to move as the blood slowed her down. Bloody Bones raised its fist to pound her with. I wasn't going to let that happen and blocked it with Crescent Rose, or at least I tried to. The bone was much stronger than my scythe and forced me into the ground.

Bloody Bones roared in triumph and stood up to kill me with a final attack. I looked up at it and quickly tried to think of a strategy that would work. How would I save my friends and myself at the same time?

"Hey, shitface!" I heard Yang say.

She was standing with both fists clenched and her hair cut to shoulder-length. This was one of those moments where her temper came in handy.

"You've pissed me off enough. First you attack my baby sister, and then my friends, and apparently that wasn't enough. You just had to cut off my hair. DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TOOK TO GROW IT OUT TO THAT LENGTH?"

Yang's entire body had begun to glow bright yellow. I smiled at what was about to happen.

"I'M GOING TO GRIND YOU INTO DUST AFTER BREAKING EVERY BONE IN YOUR BODY!" Yang's semblance had activated. She jumped ahead as Bloody Bones shifted its attention to her. I took advantage of the situation by charging its head with a spinning drill move. The attack went right through the brain, leaving behind a decently sized hole.

Yang followed up my attack by leaping into the air and slamming both fists into what remained of Bloody Bones' jaw. She had so much rage built into the attack that it completely decimated the remainder of Bloody Bones' face.

I didn't want to waste Yang's attack and followed up with a final cut into the last bit of the Grimm's brain. That one slash was the attack that finally finished off Bloody Bones. It let out a final howl as the bones on its body started to evaporate, exposing a fleshy humanlike face underneath. The flesh also evaporated too until there was nothing left but a black cloud.

My body wobbled a little as I raised my head up.

"We won," I said weakly before falling down.

"You guys suck," was the last thing I heard Weiss say before closing my eyes.


	23. Chapter 23

_Yang sat silently in her room as she looked at the original model of Crescent Rose. The weapon itself had become almost a sort of legendary weapon among the people of Remnant. It was hard to believe that something with such a reputation had been crafted by Ruby back at Signal Academy._

 _Just like Ruby, Crescent Rose lacked what its later designs would eventually acquire and seemed almost useless when compared to them. Despite this, something abut its simplicity and noticeable flaws made Yang smile every time she looked at it._

" _I know I shouldn't worry about you when things like this happen," Yang said out loud, "but I still do because of who you are. You could become stronger than anyone else and I'd still feel the need to protect my baby sister."_

My eyes opened very slowly. I was so tired and drained of aura that it felt like needles were hiding underneath my eyelids.

"Are you okay?" asked Yang. She was kneeling over and staring right into my eyes.

"Yeah…"I said wearily, "I'm fine."

"I'm so glad!" said Yang happily. She grabbed me off of the floor and squeezed me in her arms. I swear that it felt like my head was about to pop off from the pressure of her hug.

"P-Please let go!" I weakly begged.

"Oh! Sorry…"

I took some time to catch my breath and looked around at everybody else. Weiss and Blake were both awake as well, but still recovering from the fight with Bloody Bones. We'd all been so badly injured that even our aura was taking a long time to heal us. It usually took about five minutes for the healing process to be complete.

"How are the rest of you?" I asked.

"Fine," said Blake shortly.

"I have deep cuts all over my body and can barely walk without feeling nauseous," said Weiss. "All of that aside, I'm fine."

I felt myself smile at Weiss's sarcasm. There was a time when it irritated me to no end, but over time I came to find it somewhat charming.

"Stop being such a big baby!" said Yang. She stood up with both hands on her hips and a very confident smirk.

"Your legs are still trembling," Weiss pointed out.

"That's nothing!" Yang boasted. "The fact that I can even stand while they do that shows just how strong I am!"

"Ignoring your body can cause you to suffer worse over time," said Blake.

"That kind of information only helps if you're average. And I'm pretty sure I'm above average."

"Guys," I groaned. "Now really isn't the time to be doing this. We have to reach the top of Beacon."

"There isn't much else we can do," said Blake. "We can only wait until our injuries recover. How do we even know if there's another Grimm like Bloody Bones just waiting for us in another room.

I frowned. Not because I was disappointed by what Blake had said. She was right and it was probably intended to be this way. Parasite was an intelligent Grimm. Having us reach the top of Beacon would be too easy. It would weaken us first and then finish each of us off.

"Why are you all doubting yourselves?" asked Yang. "We need to fight together and take this thing down! We're Team RWBY! Did we just give up when Roman Torchwick attacked us all in the Paladin?"

"No," Blake and Weiss answered wearily.

"Did we give up after Weiss got pushed around by the White Fang officer?"

"Hey! You also got slapped around by Roman's stooge!" Weiss cut in.

"That's not important!" Said Yang. "What's important is that we haven't given up before and won't now!"

I smiled at Yang. She had such a commanding personality that made her a great vice-leader for Team RWBY. Her voice alone was enough to make people pay attention. Sometimes I wondered how differently things would be if Yang had been the leader of another team.

"So let's go and kick some ass!" Yan roared with a fist in the air.

"YEAH!" Weiss Cheered. "But first…. let me heal a bit longer. My legs need it."

Yang groaned and sat back down. This definitely wasn't going to be easy.

 _Parasite sighed to herself as she felt the presence of Bloody Bones disappear. Even at a young age, Team RWBY lived up to their reputation as an exceptional Huntress team. Bloody Bones had once been almost legendary in Vale for its ferocity and power. It was said that it took forty Huntsmen to take it down. The fact that it took four young girls to do what forty grown people struggled with was a testament to their strength. However, there was also a good chance that Team RWBY was most likely recovering somewhere in Beacon before continuing their journey upwards._

" _O…Ophion…." Parasite's thoughts were interrupted by a very hoarse voice. It almost sounded like the vocal chords were being dragged along a gravel surface._

" _GoreGumo," Parasite said without looking back. "You failed to Ruby, Weiss, and Penny Mark I."_

" _I tried…" GoreGumo groaned. Its voice grew continuously unbearable to listen to as it went on, "But…Mark I…too much for me…"_

 _Parasite turned around and saw a Grimm with entire parts of its body missing. Five of its eight legs seemed to have been sliced off and a chunk of its head had been blown off. That GoreGumo could even stand was impressive._

" _It doesn't look like you have Mark I with you," Parasite noted. "Not that it matters. It probably struggles to even process basic functions with the damage you probably dealt it. Isn't that right?"_

 _GoreGumo said nothing as it continued to hang its head in exhaustion._

" _But now is the time for our next step," Parasite continued. "I have four other legendary Grimm scattered throughout Beacon. Each of them are of a higher intelligence than Bloody Bones and were all infamous for the terror they spread across Remnant at various points in history."_

 _Parasite stopped for a minute to admire the dainty hands she now had as a younger Ruby Rose. The skin of each hand was soft and delicate. Nothing like the rough and damaged hands that most Grimm were stuck with._

" _I'm not letting that girl gain control of this body," she said to herself. "I'll wear it until it becomes nothing more than a loose mask of skin covering a corpse. "_

 _She smiled to herself. The ideal body would soon be hers and there was nothing Ruby could do to change that._

"So what are we going to do now?" asked Yang. "Sit around and continue moping?"

"How many times are we going to repeat this conversation?" asked Weiss.

"Until one of you decide to actually get up and do something!" Yang shouted.

"Yang…" I said in a calming voice, "We really should wait. You just don't know if there's another Grimm hiding somewhere. I don't like it either…but we're going to have to wait."

Yang looked at me with her mouth open, as if I'd just insulted her entire family.

"Ruby," she whispered. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying we need to wait and heal up," I said.

Yang flared her nostrils at me and turned away.

"Fine!" She shouted before turning around to storm off.

"Come on, Yang!" I said. "It won't be that much longer!"

"I don't care!" Yang shouted back. "I'm going to stop more people from being killed because I care!"

I noticed a smoke-like mist emerging from around Yang. She was just about to leave the area when it began to surround her.

"What is that?" asked Weiss.

"I don't know," I said.

"You really should have listened to your friends," said a deep voice that echoed across the entire room.

"The hell is this?" asked Yang. She held up her gauntlets, ready to shoot at whoever came her way.

"I congratulate you on defeating Bloody Bones," the voice said as the smokey mist grew thicker. "Unfortunately for all of you, I'm much different than him."

A head emerged from the mist, along with a pair of arms. The head was humanlike but Grimmlike at the same time. Three massive horns stuck out from various points of its head and the ears were pointed at the tips. The arms that grew from the mist were muscular and covered in ancient markings.

"What's different about you?" Yang asked. "You have an IQ over seventy? Not exactly something to brag about."

"This one likes to talk," the voice said. The body had finally shown itself and I immediately felt a sense of urgency at its presence. Its body was large and muscular with boney bracelets covering the wrists. I knew this Grimm but had never faced it myself. This was a Grimm that had nearly managed to take full control of Vacuo before being stopped by my mother, Summer Rose. It was this Grimm that made her and Team STRQ famous across Remnant. This was the mystical Grimm, Jinn.

"Yang!" I shouted. "Don't do any—"

Yang shot two rounds at the Grimm and each of them fazed right through it.

"Fire dust?" Jinn laughed. "I'm insulted that you even thought such a thing could be felt by me!" He lifted Yang off the floor with one arm and used it to slam her face into the floor. He slammed her so hard that the floor around her shattered into several pieces.

"Huntresses, look before you! What you see is a Grimm that has descended above humankind and Grimm alike!" Jinn shouted as it held up its other hand. I could see a ball of lighting quickly forming in its hands.

"Somebody stop him!" I shouted.

"Already on it!" said Blake. She released a shadow clone that was covered in ice dust and sent it towards Jinn. The Grimm chuckled and breathed a ball of fire that melted the clone without any effort.

"And now you shall all witness the final moment of your comrade!"

"YANG!" I screeched.

The lightning ball was shoved directly into the back of Yang's head. I could see her body shaking violently as the element filled her entire body. It twitched a couple more times and then stopped.

"I HATE YOU!" I shouted. My body was still weak from the previous fight and I could barely even stand, but I wouldn't let Jinn get away with Yang.

I activated my semblance and charged at the Grimm with everything I had left in me. My attempt was shortly stopped by a very powerful punch in the face that sent me flying backwards.

"One must always be cautious when facing the supreme Grimm!" Jinn boasted. "Your friend is miraculously alive. I only allowed this because the one who summoned me insisted on it. Consider yourselves blessed for allowing me to spare you. Now I shall be off! Farewell!"

And Jinn disappeared just like that.

I couldn't believe what just happened. It looked like we were all going to march straight to the top and confront Parasite. Now Yang was gone and we had another powerful Grimm lurking about. I felt my anger burning up as I pictured Parasite in my own body, laughing at me. That smug face looking down at me and cackling like a maniac. She wasn't going to have that satisfaction. I'd make sure of that.

"I have a new plan, everybody," I said in a loud voice.

"W-What's that?" asked Weiss, clearly taken back by my sudden change of tone.

"We're going to save Yang and nothing is going to stop us."


	24. Chapter 24

"… _What is this?" Mark III asked out loud. There was a new aura of darkness forming within Ruby's subconscious. It was so strong that it almost pushed her fingers away from Ruby's scalp._

" _It looks like Jinn has been awakened," said the voice in her head._

 _Mark III stepped back a little and widened her eyes. "The God of Darkness's Messenger?" she asked._

" _It looks that way," said the voice._

 _Mark III stared back down at Ruby's head. She could see what was going on by scanning her fingers across Ruby's head and reading the signals from there. Large bumps of dark aura were usually attributed to Parasite's presence. Jinn's wasn't as strong, but it was still quite prominent._

" _This is the Grimm that was said to level entire cities with its power," said Mark III. That Parasite is able to conjure something like this says a lot about her power."_

" _It does," said the voice, "But I wouldn't underestimate Ruby."_

" _I never said I was."_

" _I know. I was mostly saying it for me."_

"We can't waste any time!" I shouted. "I need to reach Yang before Parasite gets her!"

"But we're already drained form our last fight!" said Weiss. "What more can we do?"

"We can try!" I shouted. The muscles in my arms tensed as I threw Crescent Rose over my shoulder and dugs its blade into the floor. I then activated my semblance and used Crescent Rose to spin around once and propel myself towards Jinn as he flew upwards. Beacon Tower was straight ahead and him being able to fly would make the trip easy. I could feel my grip on Crescent Rose slipping as sweat began to form from my hands.

"Hey! Wait for us!" Weiss said from below. She was using speed glyphs to just barely keep up with me. I could see that Blake was right behind her.

I screamed out loud as I pulled Crescent Rose in front of me and shot out two rounds of lightning dust. Jinn turned around and opened his mouth to spit out large chunks of rock. My lighting struck both rocks and destroyed them instead of him. It didn't really matter if I missed anyway. My goal was to use silver eyes on him. They may have been risky to use on Parasite, but chances were that using them on Jinn wouldn't be a problem.

I looked up with a cocky smirk as a white light emerged from my eyes and covered the area in front of me with an aura that was known to erase Grimm completely. Unfortunately, Yang didn't appear to be in sight either. I looked down to see if she was falling and saw something even worse.

Jinn was already on the ground and had one hand planted on it. This one hand was able to conjure a giant stone snake from the ground. It circled Around Weiss and Blake with speed that was close to my own. Weiss jumped back and attempted to conjure up a glyph, only to have stone hands rise from the ground and pull her backwards.

Blake attempted to distract the snake by using her clones. She'd conjure one and have the snake chase it, bite down on it, and then change direction for another. It was a great strategy and was held back by Blake having no real counter for it. The snake's movements also caused an earthquake that shook the area. I couldn't believe that one Grimm had so much power stored inside of it. Knowing that my mother and her team managed to defeat this thing made me respect them even more.

Weiss pushed back the stone with four large gravity glyphs. I could see her head struggling to stay up as the glyphs drained even more of her already depleted aura.

"This…is…too much…."she coughed.

"Let go of my sister!" I yelled at Jinn, struggling to stand as my legs wobbled. My sixteen-year-old body hadn't grown used to using Silver Eyes and was already beginning to tremble. A sharp pain shot through my entire body as I trembled over to Jinn with Crescent Rose will in my grip.

Jinn stared at me through his cold, red eyes. I could see Yang being held tightly under the grip of his hand. My mind could only focus on Yang and my friends, each of them fighting for me. I could see Weiss wheezing as she used any opening she could to regain aura. Blake was struck by the backside of the earth snake and landed on her back. Both of my friends were putting there all into this and I planned on doing the same. I stared back at Jinn with a hard glare, letting him know that I wasn't going down easily.

"I'm impressed that you've managed to last this long against me," said Jinn. "It seems that the offspring of Summer Rose is just as tenacious as she once was."

"What?" I hear myself say.

"You think I wasn't aware?" he laughed. "I may have been defeated, but my consciousness exists in a separate plane of existence from most Grimm. I am a messenger for the God of Darkness, after all."

I took a couple deep breaths and heard a raspy sound coming from my lungs. My body only had so much time before it collapsed once again.

"Unfortunately, you and your team have already lost," said Jinn. He pointed his finger at Weiss and Blake, both of them lying on the ground. "Your teammates have fallen and it's only a matter of time before you're next."

"Give her back…" I whispered.

Jinn raised his finger and pointed it at me. I could see a mist forming from its tip. "I do not give in to demands from a weakened human," said Jinn. "Continue to stand where you are so that I may give you a merciful end."

"GIVE….YANG…BACK!" I shouted. My throat was so strained that my voice cracked in between screaming. There wasn't any more time to waste. I pointed Crescent Rose at Jinn and shot out multiple rounds of gravity dust. These rounds usually created an immense amount of pressure that could destroy entire buildings. Jinn let go of Yang and disappeared in a cloud of dust as the rounds of dust destroyed the statue behind him. I then ran over to Yang and lifted her into my arms.

"I'm disappointed that such a trick was able to work on you," said Jinn from behind me. I felt an excruciating pain in my shoulder, as something hot burned right through it. I looked down and saw that Jinn had managed to create a hole in my shoulder. Yang dropped from my arms as I landed on my knees in pain.

"Look at you squirm on the ground like a worm," Jinn taunted. "Such a sight is too disgraceful to let you live."

Jinn lifted me off the ground by my hair and used his other hand to create a block of water. He then threw me into the water and picked Yang back up.

"It seems a fitting end for you to drown in your self-pity," Jinn remarked. He went back up towards Beacon tower as I fought to get out of the water. My body was too weak to swim out of the water. I struggled to keep my mouth closed and felt my head growing even dizzier. A burning sensation filled my nostrils as I inhaled water through them. Everything went dark. The last thing I remember was a hand grabbing me before losing all consciousness.


	25. Chapter 25

_Parasite sat comfortably atop Beacon, admiring the blackened view of the once peaceful city. That was one thing about the lesser Grimm she admired. They had the capacity to destroy nearly everything without a second thought. Not even a second of hesitation was wasted as the Grimm tore down everything in sight. She, on the other hand, would occasionally feel something in her that would make her pause for a second. Could this be the price of gaining a shred of humanity? She wouldn't have much time to think about it as something came floating towards her._

" _I've returned with the girl you asked for," said Jinn. He was flying with a cloud of smoke puffing behind him and a young girl wrapped in his arm._

" _You took longer than I would have liked," said Parasite. "Was it really that difficult to handle a group of inexperienced Huntresses?"_

" _It was less that they were difficult to defeat and more that they were just persistent." Said Jinn gruffly._

" _I know that all too well," said Parasite as she eyed Yang. Her blond hair hung over her face, covering it entirely. This girl was still young and had potential to be a destructive force as she grew._

" _Might I ask why you wish to have these girls delivered to you instead of wiping them out now?"_

 _Parasite looked up at her fellow Grimm and smirked playfully. "Wouldn't you have more fun slowly taking down your prey instead of giving them a quick death?"_

 _Jinn said nothing and continued to stare with a stoic expression._

" _I guess and you and I don't see everything eye-to-eye," she shrugged._

 _Parasite took Yang from Jinn's arms and held her by the shoulders. Yang was different from the rest of her team in that she had an unusually high amount of aura reserves, allowing her semblance to be more effective in what it did. Parasite smiled to herself once more and dug her fingers into Yang's flesh. A small circle of black appeared on Yang's arm as aura began to drain from her body._

" _I already took half of the Faunus's aura," said Parasite as the process continued. "This one will give me even more aura so that I can summon one final Grimm. The one who twists minds?"_

 _Jinn's stoic expression changed to that of uneasiness. "Are you sure it's wise to summon that one?" he asked._

" _Oh yes," said parasite. "I think it'll make things a lot more interesting."_

I felt strange. My body was conscious and yet I still felt like I wasn't. There was nothing to see but darkness and nothing to hear but silence. My chest ached every time I took even the smallest breath. Jinn had managed to beat me without even putting a lot of effort in. I wasn't sure how I was able to save Yang and myself if more Grimm like that started to appear.

"Ruby?" said a softly comforting voice. I opened my eyes some more and saw an image that would have scared me during any other moment. Penny was looking back at me with most of her face torn off.

"Penny? I said weakly. The excitement I had gave me enough strength to raise my arms but not nearly enough to reach out and touch Penny. I had to hold back and cough a little as my chest pains began to build again.

"Ruby," said Penny calmly. "I'm so happy to see you're better."

"Yeah," I said weakly. "If you can call this better."

"It's a lot better than what we were seeing," said Weiss. She was walking towards me with Blake at her side. "We've been waiting approximately two hours for you to recover. The whole time we couldn't tell if you were going to make it or not. It's really an awful thing to endure."

I smiled at Weiss and took a deep breath, trying to ignore the pain. "I'm happy to see all of you too," I said.

"You didn't move or make any noise the entire time," said Blake. "We thought you might have—"

"Don't say that!" Said Weiss, covering Blake's mouth with her hand. "We're supposed to comfort her, remember?"

"You're already doing that by being here," said. "But Penny. Where were you?"

"I escaped from Goregumo after dealing her a heavy blow with my beam," said Penny. She managed to deal a great amount of damage onto me, but I was able to escape and hide until I found you."

"So Goregumo's still around too?" I asked. She may be damaged, but Goregumo was still a powerful Grimm to fight. She'd definitely be a challenge if she attacked us right then and there.

"We haven't fought any Grimm since the attack," said Blake. "I've been looking out too and haven't seen anything."

"That doesn't sound like a good sign," said Weiss. She walked to the side of us and crossed her arms. "They're probably planning something big to hit us with," she said. "I can't imagine any other reason for them to give up just like that."

"It is strange," said Blake. "I'll keep looking out while Ruby recovers."

"No," I said stubbornly as I stood up straight. "We need to find and save Yang. "I've got a secret weapon for any Grimm that might show up."

I said that confidently while remembering that Jinn managed to avoid my silver eyes. However, chances were high that the Grimm coming after us would most likely be lower level Grimm that would fall easily to the silver eyes. My only fear was the chance of falling unconscious, but for now I was only focused on saving Yang.

"Then I suppose that means the four of are now TEAM WARP (WRP)!" Said Penny. She even made a little pose to go along with her new team name.

"What about me?" asked Blake.

"The 'B' is silent," said Penny.

"Whatever we call ourselves doesn't matter," I said. "Either way, we're going to cause some trouble for these Grimm.


	26. Chapter 26

The three of us knew that Beacon was a difficult place to navigate when you had Grimm crawling everywhere. Jinn had taken Yang somewhere atop Beacon Tower. The same place I'd seen Pyrrha Nikos die.

"Excuse me," I heard Penny say, "Do you think you could help?" Even though Penny claimed to be perfectly fine, everybody could see how she walked as if her joints were locked in place. Weiss and Blake pushed her back up everytime it looked like she was about ot fall. I would have laughed if the situation we were in wasn't so serious.

"Do you think we'll be able to get up there in the condition we're in?" asked Blake. "I don't want to be a bearer of bad news, but it looks like we won't be able to reach Yang in time."

I looked back at Blake without saying anything before gazing back at Beacon Tower. "That sounds like something a quitter would say," I said. I looked back at Penny and noted her structure. Mark I Penny lacked a lot of helpful feature that Mark III Penny possessed, but she still had the thrusters attached to her. I thought some more before a spark went off in my brain.

"I want you to cling onto my back," I said to Penny.

"Why?" Penny cocked her head.

"I'm going to have you fly us to the top of Beacon Tower."

"Ruby, it's understand able that you'd feel desperate to save your sister," said Weiss, "but just stop for a second to think about this. Penny can barely walk and you're asking if she can fly us to the top of a tower?"

"It does sound impossible," Blake murmured to herself.

"Just give me a chance on this!" I snapped.

Weiss shrugged her shoulders. "I guess it doesn't hurt to try this," she said.

Penny wrapped her arm around me and squeezed tightly.

"And what do you suggest we do?" asked Weiss.

"Take care of the Grimm down here while I'm gone," I said.

"But you aren't going to win against the Grimm up there on your own," said Blake.

"I know. That's why I'm only going to save Yang."

"This sounds like an awful idea," said Weiss.

"It's better than no idea," I responded.

Penny wrapped onto my body as I took one deep breath and activated my semblance. I could feelthe blood rushing as I stared at Beacon Tower. It was so big and imposing that I didn't blame the others for being intimidated by it. I just happened to be someone who didn't let something intimidate them so easily. I took one last deep breath and went off. My legs moved so quickly that they kicked up gravel behind them to create a dust cloud.

The sound of Penny's thrusters went off as soon as my feet landed on the side of Beacon Tower. I continued to sprint at my fastest speed before jumping off. We were able to glide upwards by doing this. Weiss and Blake disappeared into the distance we ascended to the top of Beacon Tower.

"Do you think we can save your sister?" asked Penny.

"Yes," I said confidently. I saw a massive black cloud forming in the sky. There were red pulses that went off inside of it every so often.

Our acencion stopped when I fell onto the top of Beacon Tower. Penny fell off of me and skidded across the floor.

"Summer's daughter!" I heard Jinn say.

"You failed to get rid of her?" Parasite asked.

Jinn said nothing.

I lifted myself off the floor and turned to face Parasite. One side of her face maintained the elderly figure I'd seen before. The other one maintained the face of my youth, as if to taunt me.

"Congratulations on making it up here," said Parasite. "Did you come to save your sister?"

"What did you do to Yang?" I snarled.

Parasite stood up and grabbed something she'd been sitting on. It was Yang.

"Here's your sister," she said while carelessly throwing Yang. I winced at the sight of seeing my sister thrown like unwanted garbage.

"You didn't answer my question," I said.

"Ummm…. Ruby?" said Penny.

I looked in her direction and saw several Grimm spawning around her. My head snapped back at Parasite to find that the ssame thing was happening to me.

"You didn't really think I'd let you off this easy, did you?" Parasite taunted. "Your friends have a little surprise of their own as well."

Weiss and Blake stood their ground as they waited for Ruby. An entire horde of Grimm were beginning to circle around them. With their fangs and claws bared.

"They look hungry to me," said Blake non-chalantly.

"Brilliant observation," Weiss shot back. "And are you going to add that we look particularly appetizing?"

"Not anymore now that you mentioned it."

Weiss felt her fists shake but said nothing.

"You're lucky that we're in such a desperate situation."

"I don't know what you consider lucky about this."

The number of Grimm began to increase as more of them spawned out of nowhere.

"I think it's about time that we put an end to this," said Weiss. She spun around majestically and struck Myrtenaster into the ground. A white burst of dust quickly surrounded the tip of her weapon before being blasted outwards in a wave of ice. Many of the Grimm were stuck with shards of ice while others fell from having their limbs frozen.

Blake smirked at her teammate and unleahed several shadows that flew at the remaining Grimm. They swiped at each of the shadwos, only for them all to disappear as soon as they made contact. Blake took advantage of their confusion to cut right through them with Gambol Shroud. She moved so quickly that it looked like a Black line was cutting through the Grimm.

Once all the Grimm were defeated, Blake turned towards Weiss and smirked. Weiss returned the gesture and smiled.

"You're pretty skilled for a Faunus," she said.

"And you're quite agile for a human."

Weiss and Blake looked up at the tower with a newfound determination.

"I think we can get up there with my glyphs and your whip," said Weiss.

Blake nodded. "That sounds like it could work."

Weiss held Myrtanester close to her body and closed both eyes. A glyph was froming from underneath her. It continued to grow larger and larger, but was interrupted when the ground began to shake all of a sudden.

"They've sent another one after us," said Blake.

"This Grimm really planned everything ahead," Weiss grumbled.

The stone surface continued to rise from the ground, creating a mountain-like appearance.

Blake stepped back and let off four fire shadows towards it. The mountain took each of them without any effect.

"What did you do that for?" asked Weiss.

"I thought that the fire would burn whatever was inside there….if that was the case," said Blake. "Looks like there's nobody in there."

The mountain was now taking the form of something. Two large wings emerged from the back and claw-like feet sprouted from the lower portion. Next came two red eyes that belonged to only one type of creature.

"Do you mean to tell me that this thing is a Grimm?" Weiss gasped.

Two large arms emerged from the mountain and then came the head. The head was oddly shaped like a triangle with two bat-like ears and a pointed nostril. The newly formed Grimm let out an ear-piercing shriek that nearly deafened Blake's faunus ears.

"Whatever it is, it's clearly meant to stall us," she shouted.

The stone faunus lunged at Blake with its claw-like fingers. Blake stepped back and cut off the hand without any sort of struggle.

"How did you do that?" Weiss gaped.

"I used my weapon," said Blake.

Unfortunately for her, the victory was quickly overturned. New claws grew from the stubs Blake had created.

"Of course it can grow them back," Weiss sighed.

The two of them ran away as the Grimm flapped its stony wings, creating a gust of wind so powerful that it tore away any nearby structures.

"We're going to have to plan something," said Weiss.

"Agreed," said Blake.

"This Grimm obviously takes adtantage of stone or hardened surfaces to create its body. We can cut it all we want and it'll just grow them back."

Blake nodded. "and so our solution is to use elements against it in some way."

"Correct."

They looked to where the Grimm was once more and saw that it had disappeared. In its place was a large lump that moved towards them at a surprisingly fast pace. Weiss pushed back agasint the Grimm with an exceptionally large glyph that fought against the Grimm's increasing pressure. It seemed like It was about to burst through when Weiss conjured up yet another glyph. This was was also large but had a shiny glow to it. The glow grew brighter as something emerged from its center.

"What is that?" asked Blake.

Weiss grit her teeth and growled as the shiny object moved further out. The Grimm was noticing Weiss's second glyph and broke out of the lump it had created as if it were a cacoon. Enough pressure had been created from the sudden attack to make Weiss lose her blance along with the glyphs. Both of the Huntressees slammed into a part of Beacon and lost a good chunk of aura.

"I'm getting sick of this Grimm," said Weiss.

"Agreed," Blake nodded.

"I think it's time we removed it from our presence."


	27. Chapter 27

Mark III's head frantically moved back and forth as loud beeping noises came from the machine attached to Ruby.

"Is something wrong?" asked Yang. She'd been sleeping in the white room for a while. Every so often she would ask how Ruby was or give her younger sister a bit of support. The sounds coming from Mark III's machine were the usual slow beeping noises, but now they'd become frantic and Ruby's body shook as the beats frequency increased.

"This is looking bad," said Mark III. "I think the Parasite is aggressively starting to try and take full control of Ruby. I'm doing my best to stop it but there's only so much I can do."

Yang walked over to Ruby and saw that both of her legs were now completely black with large scabs forming in different places. The Grimm was starting to get desperate and it showed by how much it was speeding up its process.

"This can't be good," said the voice in Mark III's head. "Ruby needs help."

"You think I don't know that?" Mark III grunted. "We need to do something quick before this Grimm devours her entirely!"

"Times like this make me wish that I was no longer confined like this," the voice said sadly.

Mark III smiled weakly at that remark and sighed. "Penny, sometimes you're so innocent it hurts."

I was on the floor trembling as I panted heavily. The world around me was shaking and twisting. Loud bursts of sound erupted in my ears and made my body contort unnaturally. Something was happening and I was nearly helpless to stop it.

"She appears to be inflicted by something," Jinn noted.

"I've decided to take control of her and end this quickly," Parasite smirked. Her hands were stuck onto the surface she stood on. Large veins bulged from her forearms as an unknown substance ran through them. There would be a loud pulsing noise and Parasite would make a small sound as if she were in pain.

"The silver-eyed girl's powers are flowing through my veins," she said. "I'll soon be able to trap her into this world. There'll be no place to escape and I'll be in control of her every action."

Hearing that sickly voice cackling made me fight back against what was happening to me. I stood back up as the sounds continued to beat in my head.

"What was that?" I said weakly.

Parasite smirked at me. "You really aren't in a state to confront me," she taunted. I noticed that her skin had become thinner, so much that every single vein could be seen through it.

"The same could be said for you," I said with a grin.

"Would you like for me to take care of her?" asked Jinn

"Go ahead," Parasite laughed. "She's clearly too weak to even temporarily give me a struggle."

I looked over at Penny and saw her standing timidly beside Goregumo. She looked uneasily at Penny. Through the pain and noises running through my head, an idea began to form. I looked over at Penny and winked. She cocked her head at me in confusion.

"Do not prolong you inevitable defeat!" Jinn shouted. He came flying at me and that's when I put my plan into motion.

"Use your beam!" I shouted.

Penny didn't hesitate and stood back to prepare her attack. Jinn raised both hands and formed a spear made entirely out of electric dust. He was about to thrust it into my chest but I was quick enough to duck as Penny's beam clashed against his spear. Jinn was pushed back quite a bit as Penny's beam dug into his spear.

I took the opportunity to speed towards Goregumo using my semblance. The Grimm looked down at me with a luck of disgust as I smiled up at her.

"You've forgotten what happened the last—" She wasn't even able to complete her sentence. I activated my silver eyes directly in her face and watched as her entire body became engulfed in a sea of white.

"Goregumo!" I heard Parasite shout.

My body shook even more after activating the silver eyes. The younger body I was in could barely handle them when used against Cinder Fall. Still, being able to use them on Goregumo was well worth the effort. I could still her hear screaming underneath the stone that entombed her.

Parasite was right in front of me with a crazed look in her eyes. She swung at me with her Crescent Rose. I blocked her with mine and looked over at Penny. She had each of her swords coated in earth dust that effectively negated the effects of Jinn's lightning spear. Not that it made much of a difference. His ability to turn intangible was proving to be too much for her. Parasite was screaming furiously as she slammed her fists into my face. Each slam was so hard that I could feel my cheekbones crack just a bit from the force. My hand was still holding tightly onto Crescent Rose. I lifted it up as Parasite continued to slam me and shot a round off into the distance.

Parasite and Jinn both looked at where I had shot the dust round and scoffed.

"Do you think I don't—" Parasite was also interrupted as I swung Crescent Rose's blade directly into her head. IT would have sliced right through if she hadn't managed to catch it with her monster-like teeth.

I loosed my push against her and made a move towards Yang. Jinn pushed Penny aside as he came at me again with an enormous cloud forming above his head. I turned towards him and raised my arms as if to strike. He responded by creating an arm from his stomach and used it to punch me. You should have seen the look on his face when he realized that he had attacked an afterimage of myself.

Learning from Blake, I'd learned how to create an afterimage similar to her clones with my semblance. It was the perfect way to confuse enemies as it did just then. I grabbed Yang and jumped aside.

"Where am I?" Yang asked, sounding more tired than anything else.

"You're with me," I said.

Yang looked at me with tired eyes and smiled. "Took you long enough, sis."

"HOW DARE YOU MAKE A MOCKERY OF ME! "Jinn shouted. His body had grown larger and a pool of fire was emerging from underneath him.

"This guy again…" Yang muttered.

"Yeah…" I said. "Penny and I are having trouble."

Yang turned her head and noted Penny lying in the corner with visible damage done to her body.

Parasite moved right next to Penny with my own semblance and kicked her in the head with an attack that was charged with my own ability. It completely demolished an entire side of Penny's face to the point that it looked more like scrap metal than the face of my friend.

"You damned machine!" she shouted. I stood straight up and struck Yang twice in the back with Crescent Rose. My heart immediately began to rush as I entered phase two of my acceleration technique. The sounds in my head were being drowned out and replaced with the sound of blood rushing through my head. In a split-second I was beside Parasite with Crescent Rose out.

Jinn was about to attack me again but was stopped when a large ball of fire slammed into him. He was caught completely off guard by the attack and fell on his back in surprise.

Standing above him was Yang Xiao Long, covered in fire. "Don't think you're the only one being creative with your semblance," she chuckled. "You take care of the demon granny while I handle legless wonder."


End file.
